Mutual fund, monthly income plan - some questions

#1
Hi all

has anyone invested in any monthly income plan? any good or bad experiences from it? is it good to invest there instead of FDs as of now? also I would like to difference between HDFC short term MIP and HDFC long term MIP both look same to me from their descriptions :-s

Is this "monthly income" deposited to your bank account? how much is it normally on an average for 1 lakh of investment in this plan? also is its income tax free or taxed, i read tax is not deducted at source that is while it is credited to ur account. what r tax implications?

Also Growth vs Dividend which is better generally from capital appreciation plus income perspective.