Is it wise to invest my mothers money in debt and balanced funds

It is a wise decision to invest in debt funds and balanced funds. But you need to note that the risk profile of your mother should match with that of the risk associated with these two categories of funds. The other thing you should note is the investment horizon, if she is investing in debt funds it should be 3 years and for balanced funds, it should ideally be 5 years.

Please do not try to time the market. You are talking about investing in equities when bearish phase starts! But what happens if the market remains bullish, as it is now, for few years? Then in that case, you will never be able to invest!

If your mother is okay with the investment horizon as mentioned above, she should start investing now. However instead of investing in equity mutual funds, it is better to go with balanced funds as balanced funds invests in both the asset classes, equity and debt.

Among debt funds, you can consider investing in ICICI Prudential Long Term Plan and UTI Dynamic Bond Fund. From balanced fund category, ICICI Balanced Fund, HDFC Balanced Fund and L&T India Prudence Fund could be good choices.