I want to know more options for investing my saving.

Earning good return during this sensitive time with investment in mutual funds or market is a bit of a gamble. Yes, the banks have reduced their FD rates as well as savings deposit rates drastically as they themselves are not in good shape and are earning lower income and hence cannot pay well.

Return in case of mutual funds depends upon the amount of time you stay invested. If your investment horizon is short then expecting good returns will not be possible. Even goof performing Mutual Fund schemes are giving return of aroun 10 - 12% p.a. and not more than that. Investing directly in equity is highly risky if you don't have the required knowledge of market.

Although Cryptocurrency in now legal in India after the judgement by Supreme Court, still avoid Bitcoins as they are fairly new and very reliable authorised exchange are not available as of now in India. It is fairly new so a lot of fake companies may come up and your money may get lost there.

If you have fair amount of money then it is suggested to buy Gold and there can be no better return than this metal as the price of Gold is going to touch even higher and can even give you good return in short run. If you want even better return then buy Gold bonds that have a lockin period of 8 years. The returns will be much better than any equity, considering the current market situation.

When one starts earning then it is expected that one should save for the future or purchasing assets or for the rainy days. It is said that a person should save at least 30% of one's earning and manage with the remaining amount. Some people may be able to save still more that is up to them. In your case you can have some options like PPF account, Mutual funds, Non-taxable bonds, Blue chip stocks, Gold etc. Let us go one by one now.

PPF is a Govt scheme where you get return of about 8% and you can deposit up to a maximum of Rs 150000 per year in the PPF account and same is deductible from your taxable income up to a maximum of Rs 150000 per year. So you save tax also. This is a good scheme and a long term savings plan. Its initial period is 15 years and it can be extended further in instalments of 5 years. The interest earned in PPF account is tax free (Note: Interest earned on bank FDs is taxable).

Generally Govt PSUs issue non taxable bonds for 10/15/20 years duration and the interest earned on them is around 7 to 8% but that interest is tax free. So for people having some surplus money to save, this is a good option. The interest would be payable yearly. Time to time these are issued and one can keep a watch in financial portals. One has to apply for it either online or through physical application form. The old bonds already issued earlier are also available in the stock market and one can purchase them from there also but it requires some deep study as what is the current price and what is the return to the investor. Some advice of the stock market expert would be required in that.

Coming to Mutual Funds, this is a prospective area and one has to select the mutual fund schemes which have a good track record and it would be advisable to invest every month some money in the SIP mode where the risk is reduced due to averaging of buying prices. Anyway, the risk in mutual funds is lesser than that of the shares (stock) and many people prefer to invest in Mutual Funds. Please remember that Mutual Fund investments are to be done from a long time perspective as many times in short periods they do not give us good returns as market sometimes remains sluggish due to various political or commercial reasons. It is to be understood very clearly that Mutual Funds also invest their money in share and bond markets and if share and bond market does not go up how the Mutual Funds would be able to give us return. So invest in Mutual Funds and wait for markets to rise and then only you can think of making a god profit. Different schemes have different tax considerations and one has to check the aspect of Income Tax also before hand. Please read the prospectus of the scheme thoroughly before investing in them.

Gold is an all time favourite of the investors and one can think to buy it also whatever small quantity one can. Now Govt is also issuing gold in form of gold bonds time to time which are more lucrative than the gold itself and I would strongly advise to buy them rather physical gold. Govt also pays some nominal interest of 2.5% per annum on these bonds and they can be sold at market price later. Normally these bonds are for a tenure of 6 years.

Slightly more riskier but having potential for more return is the investment in shares of select top companies in the market. They are known as blue chips and usually would be seen in a first list in BSE daily quotes of share prices. Without any business affiliation with these companies I can very well tell you some names though the list is still bigger. Some of these are Colgate, Hindustan Liver, ITC, ACC, ABB, Cipla, Dr Reddy's Lab, P & G, Dabur, Britannia, Brook Bond, HDFC, Reliance, TCS, Infosys, SBI, Maruti, Pidilite, Godrej, and many more. Seeing their past performance one can try to buy shares in some of them as a long time investment. One should be cautious in investing in share market as sometimes there would be a very dull and low period even for a few years and there would not be any considerable growth in one's investment and one can think to unload the shares at a lower price making a loss but we should avoid that situation and hold them till market rebounds. Remember market would always go down as well as go up and one has to be patient enough to male money from this variation.

Regarding crypto currency though people had some gains in that earlier but I have my own reservations as it does not fall under any Govt or bank or global agency and is something in the internet in online mode only and one has to be very cautious and alert to invest in that arena. Initially it looked much lucrative but now many of the crypto currencies came down considerably from their peak values and we do not know what is the future in that investment.

There are many ways to invest your savings. Some are very safe but returns are less. Some are slightly risky but the returns are also a little more than normal savings. There are very risky ways where your returns are very good. The instrument which you select should be based on your age and the risk-taking ability. These instruments are two types namely fixed-income and equity.
Fixed-income instruments are relatively safe. Your capital will be safe and you may be getting regular interest payments. Equity instruments provide long-term capital appreciation but the risk is involved. As mentioned above you should decide on the instrument basing on your age and you can go for a mix. You have to decide based on your short-term needs, financial objectives and your capacity to withstand risk.
The various instruments are discussed below.
1. Cash investment instruments: This will include saving certificates, FDs and PPF etc. They are safe. Many of them can be liquidated easily as per your need. You can liquidate some for your emergency needs.
2. PSUs and Government Bond Issues: From time to time the government will be issuing some bonds and PSUs may also be issuing bonds. Interest will be paid regularly and your principle will come once the bonds are matured. The rates of these bonds will be inversely proportional to your interest rates. Some Corporates may also be issuing these bonds. Government bonds are always safe.
3. Stocks and Equity Investments : Various companies will be issuing shares to public for raising funds for their needs. These stocks will be regularly traded on stock exchanges. In our country BSE and NSE are very active. Companies will be issuing dividends for the share holders based on the profits it is making. We can also sell and by these stocks based on the market. Business conditions lead to falling or increase of profits and stock prices. No assurance will be there and it involves high degree of risk.
4. Mutual Funds: Mutual funds are getting popular these days as people are becoming aware about financial planning. A wide range of mutual funds are avilable. It is easy to choose the mutual fund s which will suit your financial goals. Investment in traditional instruments is not coming up to our expectations. In this aspect mutual funds are beneficial.
5. Precious metals: Investing Gold, Silver and other precious metals is always a most trusted way. This is always beneficial. These days we are getting virtual gold bonds which are like purchasing gold only but safe. We can purchase Gold if we want to invest the money for a long time. The rates increased enoromusly within the last 20 years.
6. Real Eststes: This is a very profitable deal these days. Many people are going for investment in this area. If we purchase and keep thfor some time , the rates will increase over a period of time.
7. Cryptocurrency : It is legal in our country. It appears profitable but very risky. There are no reliable exchanges are there in our country and unless otherwise we have a fair idea, we should not enter into this field.

I feel Real estate investment and investment in metals are the best options now. But you can think of mutual funds. Presently the rates are low and hence it is good time to invest.

Investment is a good option for increasing your savings and earning money as a passive income.
I agree with your point that now a days banks are offering quite less interest rates on saving accounts. Even on FD, major banks are giving around 5% interest rates.

In case, if you are planning to invest in Mutual Funds, they you can invest in Mutual funds with good returns. However, you must no invest in equity funds because share market is in overbought situation. Most of the stocks are higher than their fair price value. So, most of the market leaders are expecting a market correction in coming months. So, if you interested in investing equity based mutual funds then you can wait for 1-2 months.

With reference to Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, I would definitely not recommend. As there is no regulator for these currencies. They can be banned anytime by RBI for trading and you may loss plenty of your savings within seconds. So, better to stay away from these.

One of the safe option that I would like to discuss here is PPF account. You can open PPF account and transfer your savings in that account. It has lock-in period of around 15 years and offer higher interest rates than FD. Also, you will get tax benefits there.

Investment is always a good option provided you could see its pros and cons clearly and considering the rate of inflation presently hovering around 6 percent per year, any interest earned to this level would not be an intelligent choice for the investment purpose. Let us discuss a few options available in the market which if chosen prudently can provide you a handsome return in the times ahead and let us see such portfolios one by one -
1) Open up a PPF account - Though the present rate of interest is 8 percent slightly lesser than the earlier ones but such an investment may attract you because of the same being tax - free in nature and the ultimate corpus at the end of 15 years can give you a significant yield because rate of interest is not the simple interest but compound in nature. The longer term to the tune of 15 years and an attractive interest rate at the present regime makes it an indespinsible option.
2) Go in the mutual funds - It is always better to open up a SIP account for a particular period, the longer the period the better and the portfolios should be of different types such as balanced types, debt ones and of course the equity related. You may go in for ICICI, HDFC, SBI, Axis Bank funds. You may take the help of financial consultants to choose your right portfolios for your requirements.
3) Invest in company's bond - Though this is the situation is of volatile market and the existing companies of our country are constantly eroding their profits because of numerous factors such as labour problem, no demand in the market for the finished products etc but you need to see it in the long term horizon and you may select Tata's, SAIL, NALCO,,ONGC etc or still better, take the advice of some financial consultant before purchasing the bond of the companies.
4) Purchase Gold Bond Periodically - This will provide you handsome return if planned for a long tenure. The Government is offering you interest at 2.5 percent per annum but staying invested continually for a longer horizon will provide you an attractive return. Keeping in view of the current time, this investment is certainly the best option.
5) Real Estate - This is the area where you may not get the immediate gain seeing the depressed market conditions but once our economy improves after the cessation of corona phase, this will certainly pick up giving you a whopping gain. You may treat initial two years as the incubation period in terms of profit but afterwards the scenarios will be otherwise.