5 tax-saving investment avenues under Section 80C

1. Public Provident Fund (PPF)
This is a 15-year lock-in account that can be opened with a bank or post office. Maximum contribution that can be made in a year is Rs 1.5 lakh.

2. ELSS funds
Mutual fund houses have specific recognised tax saving schemes known as Equity Linked Savings Schemes (ELSS) with a lock-in period of three years. Investments in these schemes of up to Rs 1.5 lakh in a financial year can be eligible for tax exemption under 80C.

3. Insurance plans
One can choose to invest in a traditional insurance plan which offers endowment benefits or a unit linked plan that provides market linked returns to take this tax exemption benefit.

4. Tax saving FD
Banks offer fixed deposits that have a maturity period of five years and are designated as tax saving FDs. These deposits usually carry a lower rate of interest vis a vis other lower maturity deposits.

Also read: Top 5 tax-saving bank FD rates

5. Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana
Contributions made to the Sukanya Samriddhi account maintained for the girl child are also eligible for deductions and the maximum investment per financial year is limited to Rs 1.5 lakh.

Points to
note

• There are other payments such as life insurance premium, principal paid on home loan, contribution to PF which also make up for the entire Rs 1.5 lakh deduction.
• One needs to take into account the amounts already eligible for deduction as above and can only make fresh investments for the balance deduction, if needed.

(Content on this page is courtesy Centre for Investment Education and Learning (CIEL). Contributions by Girija Gadre, Arti Bhargava and Labdhi Mehta.)