Yes, you most certainly can.

Mutual fund houses allow you to invest in mutual fund schemes whichever way you like.

So, if you have an ongoing SIP with a mutual fund house in say scheme A, you can definitely add more amount as lump sum in the same scheme.

When you invest in a fund (either via lump sum or SIP), you get a folio number, which is similar to your bank account and bank account number. Just like you can add money to your bank account either in five regular transactions or in one transaction, you can add investment amount to your existing mutual fund.

This is actually how experienced investors make the most of their investments.

Let’s say a mutual fund scheme is outperforming its peers and giving Mr. A stellar returns. Suppose Mr. A just sold a house and has good amount of money in his hands, ready to be mobilised. Impressed by the performance of the fund, Mr. A can invest lump sum amount in the same mutual fund scheme. This not only helps average the buying cost of the scheme, but also ensures your money keep growing.

Every individual who is a part of the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS) gets a member ID. This member ID of the EPF account is also the member ID for the individual’s EPS account.

Thus, your EPF, as well as, EPS contributions will be all deposited under the same Member ID.

All the Railway related stocks are looking very positive but ideally my suggestion to you would be to look at a portfolio that is more broad-based and diversified keeping Railways as your central theme. For example, you can surely accumulate IRFC as a good play on the financing business for Indian railways. But there are a lot more very interesting properties that are part of the Railways story.

For Rail Vikas Nigam is a good play on railway infrastructure. Similarly, if you want to buy into the softer aspects of railway services like catering, tourism and ticketing, then IRCTC is also a business that you must have in your portfolio. Then there is the recently listed RailTel which you can also consider for your portfolio and this is predominantly owning and managing the telecom and communication networks of the Indian Railways.

In short try to get a much broader and wider spread so as to hedge your risk and try and play all the facets of railways.

This is a very good and pertinent question. Let’s first understand what these two Bills are and what they entail.

Finance Bill

A Finance Bill, also defined as a Money Bill in Article 110 of the Constitution, is a bill introduced in the Parliament every year to give effect to the financial proposals made by the government for the upcoming financial year. A Finance Bill largely relates to a change in taxes and levies.

A Finance Bill is usually introduced once a year during the Budget presentation.

This means if the Finance Minister proposes some changes to income tax slabs during the budget speech, then that proposal will be introduced in the Parliament as a Finance Bill and will have to be passed by both the houses to come into effect.

Appropriation Bill

Appropriation Bill, also a Money Bill like the Finance Bill, is a bill that authorises the government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet the expenses that it could incur for a financial year.

The government tables the Appropriation Bill after it presents the Union Budget in the Parliament. This is because the Budget contains plans to spend on social programmes to uplift various sections of the society. In order to spend on these programmes, the government needs money and it takes the same from the Consolidated Fund of India.

Difference between Appropriation Bill and Finance Bill:

One of the most basic difference between the two bills is that Appropriation Bill deals with the expense side of the Budget, while the Finance Bill deals with the income (or taxes and levies) side of the Budget.