Mutual funds for a 19-year-old college student

I am a 19-year-old college student. I also work for an audit firm as an article assistant. I want to invest Rs 8,000 per month in the first year, Rs 10,000 per month in the second year, and Rs 12,000 per month in the third year. Please suggest where should I invest?
---Rohan Gigi George

Prableen Bajpai, Founder & Managing Partner, Finfix Research & Analytics, responds:

You have not mentioned important details like your financial goals, investment horizon, and risk appetite.

Based on the information provided by you, if you want the money after your articleship, you should start an SIP in a debt fund. It would enable your money to grow at a low risk.

If you do not need the money immediately, but unsure when you need it, you can split the amount in a multi cap fund and a debt fund. The investment would help you to build a small corpus.

However, if you are clearly looking at investing for a long period of time, go with a combination of a mid cap and multi cap funds. You can gradually increase the allocation to these funds in line with the increase in your stipend.