The best products are the ones you BUY, not the ones you are SOLD

Any "financial advisor", "financial planner", "relationship manager", "portfolio advisor", etc. will insist that you should have a significant portion of your assets in equity (based on your risk profile). However, the implementation of that allocation will always be using diversified mutual funds (which will charge 2.25% entry load & 2.0-2.5% expense ratio). In all likelihood, the funds will be selected from rating guide that is for "private circulation" and will contain only those funds that they have a tie-up with for distribution. Better yet, the rating guide can be done away with by picking up closed ended funds with no entry load (but you would have to pay upto 6% as initial issue expenses over the tenure).

The reason for investing in equity is robust - they deliver long term returns and Indian economy is expected to perform "well" for a decade or more. Mutual fund route provides adequate diversification and convenience, for a fee. However, what I do not understand is this - if I'm betting on Indian economy, should I not invest in an Index Fund or ETF? Your question is sure to infuriate/frustrate the "agents" (that is what they are, despite the glorified designations). The best performing diversified fund has given more than twice the return of the index, they claim. However, it is impossible to pick a winner among the diversified funds (considering their wide range of performance). The winners change frequently, which is good for the agent, as they can now recommend you to switch funds (usually called "churning") and increase their commissions on next purchase.

Here is the required dose of reality - provided you are happy with returns commensurate with Indian market (and accept that you can't beat it for sure).
* ETFs have to be bought from the market (if you are a small investor) or directly from the fund house (if you are a very large investor) - in either case, there are no commissions to be made at the time of purchase (via entry load), or retention (via trailing fees). These are best for large one-time purchases (around 1 lac).
* Index Funds have entry load of 0% (for a few funds) or 1% (for most - though I wonder how they manage to get investors). This is usually set-off via exit load for short-term redemption. The expense ratio is about 1% (or less for few funds) to 2% (again, I wonder how they manage to get investors). The combination of these low fees ensure you get market return minus expenses in the long term, while your agent gets low trail commissions only. These are best suited for regular investing with low amounts (around 1000 per month)
Note: Your success - inevitably leads to - your agent's failure. You get what you don't pay for...