Here is the Top Balanced & Debt Mutual Fund Performers as of Dec 2012 

Balanced Fund
Scheme	Inception Date	Return 1 yr %	Return 3 yr %
HDFC Children’s Gift Fund ~ Inv Plan	Feb 09 2001	17.1	15.79
HDFC Balanced	Aug 10 2000	16.83	13.44
ICICI Pru Balanced	Oct 07 1999	21.8	12.16
Income Medium Term
Scheme	Inception Date	Return 1 yr %	Return 3 yr %
SBI Dynamic Bond	Jan 13 2004	11.99	9.51
Escorts Income	May 22 1998	12.16	9.09
Birla Sun Life Medium Term	Mar 25 2009	11.1	8.64
Monthly Income Plans
Scheme	Inception Date	Return 1 yr %	Return 3 yr %
Canara Robeco MIP	Apr 01 2001	11.54	8.44
SBI Magnum MIP Floater	Nov 30 2005	10.66	8.19
Reliance MIP	Dec 29 2003	15.52	8.09
Debt Floating Rate
Scheme	Inception Date	Return 6 mths %	Return 1 yr %
FT India Life Stage FOF 50s + Floating Rate	Jul 02 2004	6.39	11.14
HDFC Floating Rate Income LT	Jan 08 2003	5.33	10.88
L&T Floating Rate	Oct 27 2010	5.58	10.67
Debt Ultra Short Term
Scheme	Inception Date	Return 6 mths %	Return 1 yr %
Birla Sun Life ST Opportunities	Jun 27 2008	5.77	11.13
HDFC Floating Rate Income LT	Jan 08 2003	5.33	10.88
Escorts Short Term Debt	Dec 28 2005	5.66	10.73
Debt Income  Short Term
Scheme	Inception Date	Return 6 mths %	Return 1 yr %
UTI Income Short Term Income Builder	Jun 24 2003	5.45	10.55
SBI Short term Debt	Jul 27 2007	5.52	10.52
IDFC SSI Short Term – Plan D	Sep 02 2005	5.34	10.42
Debt Liquid Money Markets
Scheme	Inception Date	Return 1 mths %	Return 3 months %
Escorts Liquid	Sep 29 2005	0.81	2.46
Tata Liquidity Management	Mar 01 2006	0.71	2.35
Principal Retail Money Manager	Dec 27 2007	0.73	2.23

Many investors are ignorant of the advantages of investing debt funds investment avenue as an asset class. They prefer to keep funds in FD’s and other traditional debt instruments like PPF/KVP’s/NSC/Post Office etc ~ primarily due to lack of knowledge. You can know more about this debt funds here.