Equity-Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS) is an equity mutual fund investment that invests at least 80 per cent of its assets in equity and equity-related instruments. ELSS can be open-ended or close ended. Tax Deduction under Section 80C: This is the main tax benefit of ELSS. Up to ₹1.5 lakh of your investment in ELSS can be deducted from your taxable income under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. Think of it as reducing your taxable income by the amount you invest in ELSS. This translates to a lower tax bill. Lock-in Period: There’s a catch – you can’t withdraw your ELSS investment for at least 3 years. This is called the lock-in period. It’s important to consider your investment horizon (how long you plan to invest) before choosing ELSS. It’s best suited for long-term financial goals. Potential for Higher Returns: ELSS invests in the stock market, which carries risk but also has the potential for higher returns compared to other tax-saving options like PPF or FDs. Fund Name Fund rating ( Crisil rated ) Portfolio Size ( In Cr ) Expense ratio PE ratios Turn over HDFC ELSS tax saver fund 5 14,474.85 1.73 19.86 22% SBI long term equity 5 23,411.67 1.62 20.09 15% Quant ELSS tax saver fund 4 9,360.89 1.76 17.73 130% Bank of India Tax saver fund 4 1,297.72 2.11 17.73 73% Motilal Oswal ELSS tax saver fund 4 3,402.11 1.85 35.02 74% Franklin India ELSS tax saver fund 4 6,383.38 1.81 21.59 20% Kotak ELSS tax saver fund 3 5,608.21 1.77 19.21 13% DSP ELSS tax saver fund 3 14,859.56 1.66 16.59 35% Mirae Asset ELSS tax saver fund 2 22,471.76 1.57 21.18 84% Canara Robeco ELSS Tax Saver Fund 2 7,760.97 1.76 23.08 24% Axis ELSS Tax saver fund 1 35,641.94 1.53 34.07 17% Trailing Returns : 1 Year Returns : Quant ELSS tax saver , Bank of India ELSS, SBI long term Equity fund and Motilal oswal ELSS tax saver had been the front runner in one year above 50% . HDFC ELSS tax saver, Franklin India Tax saver, Kotak ELSS tax saver and DSP ELSS tax saver were the next category to have returns in the range of 40%. Canara Robeco ELSS tax saver, Mirae Asset ELSS tax saver fund , Axis ELSS tax saver were the last range of 30% 3 Years Returns : SBI long term Equity Fund , Quant ELSS tax saver, HDFC ELSS tax saver returns were in range 26-27%. Next close were Motilal oswal ELSS tax saver and Bank of India ELSS fund which came close to 23-24% range Franklin India Tax saver fund , DSP ELSS tax saver fund and Kotak ELSS tax saver fund were returns 20-21% Mirae Asset ELSS tax saver fund, Canara Robeco ELSS tax saver fund gave return in 16% Axis ELSS tax saver fund were the last in the category 10% 5 Years Returns Quant ELSS tax saver was leader in 5 years return with 31.53% followed by not to close but at 25% Bank of India ELSS fund. SBI Long term equity and Motilal Oswal ELSS tax saver were in next category to give returns 20% DSP ELSS tax saver fund, Kotak ELSS tax saver fund and Mirae Asset ELSS tax saver fund gave 19% returns. Canara Robeco ELSS tax saver, HDFC ELSS tax saver, Franklin India Tax saver fund gave returns of 18% Axis ELSS tax saver fund gave return of 13.75% 10 Years Returns Quant ELSS tax saver in 10 years returns had the given the 24.79% Bank of India ElSS fund was next in the category 18.34% DSP ELSS tax saver and Kotak ELSS tax saver gave return of 17% SBI Long term equity fund ,Franklin India Tax Saver fund, Canara Robeco ELSS tax saver and Axis ELSS Tax saver fund around 15-16 % HDFC ELSS tax saver fund was around 14.09 Motilal Oswal ELSS tax saver , Mirae Asset ELSS tax saver fund did not have that much history. Rolling returns : We have considered rolling returns of 5 years as ELSS has a lock-in of 3 years . As an ELSS we generally consider returns above 15% to be a good return delivered by the fund, So any fund which have been able to generate rolling return for 5 years period of 15% and above, for maximum times should be considered a stable fund   We see Quant ELSS Tax saver fund and Mirae Asset ELSS tax saver are in the first quartile, also the Negative side has been limited for both of these funds. Bank of India ELSS , Canara Robeco ELSS tax saver , DSP ELSS tax saver and Kotak ELSS managed to be above 50% of times in the above quartile. They also managed to be not negative in this period. Franklin India ELSS Tax saver ,Axis ELSS tax saver fund could keep this returns for almost close to 50% of times. Franklin did Deliver negative return but Axis managed to avoid the negative. SBI Long term equity, Motilal Oswal ELSS tax , HDFC ELSS fund saver fund have not been consistent in the category of 15% above. HDFC ELSS and SBI long term equity funds had delivered negative returns. The negative return percentage might be ignored since it was very low.So in this category we need to see which funds are maintaining the highest number in 0-12% . Motilal Oswal ELSS tax fund , HDFC ELSS Tax Saver fund, SBI Long term fund and Franklin India ELSS Tax Saver for close to 50%of times delivered returns in range of 0-12% . Which shows they have not been very consistent in return. Axis ELSS tax saver was for at least 30% of time in this range. Bank of India Tax saver fund , Kotak ELSS Tax saver fund , DSP ELSS tax saver were close to 25 % times in this range . Canara Robeco ELSS tax saver was almost 20% of the time in this range. Quant ELSS tax saver and Mirae Asset
Rating : 2 star Fund size : 7332.91 cr Expense ratio : 1.72% , seems a bit higher Trailing Returns  Based on the past returns we see that it has been giving good returns Rolling Returns Rolling returns show that for around 77% of times the fund has given returns more than 12 % and around 50% of times returns more than 15 % for a rolling period of 5 years. Which is a normal result. It is to be observed that the fund has never given negative returns in 5 years period. The average returns is also decent for the fund at 14% Benchmark return : The fund is benchmarked against S&P BSE 500 TRI. The fund started with weak performance but had recovered since then. And has been above the benchmark for all these years. Vs Other ELSS fund : When we see the performance compared with other funds we see that the fund is not performing as compared Ratios The fund has std. deviation of 12.46 which shows the returns are stable, the beta is high of 0.91 but the fund has not been able to deliver any alpha, which is negative. The Sortino ratio which shows how much the downside the fund can protect is not good. Fund manager : The fund had a lot of changes in fund manager till 2020 , which may have caused a lot of trouble for the fund. The new fund manager seems to be loaded with a lot of funds to manage . Only Vishal Mishra even though new is trying to manage the fund. But his fund performance is still below the benchmarks. Fund strategy and fund style : Fund is growth oriented fund with fair orientation to large caps , limited allocation to id cap and very small allocation to small. So it may be one reason that it has underperformed the other ELSS funds in the market. This is the reason for the fund to be much more stable. The sector allocation of the fund is aligned with the benchmark to financial , technology and Automobiles. Conclusion The fund has some stable results and can be part of portfolio if you do not want to take much risk in your portfolio. But still better ELSS fund are available in the market.