ELSS funds before 31 March: three good years, a bad quarter

Where ELSS stands on 18 March

The financial year ends on 31 March, so for old-regime taxpayers still short of their 80C total, the window for this year's ELSS money is closing. The funds it would go into have had a good three years and a poor three months.

Over the three years to 18 March 2026, the median ELSS fund returned 16.00% a year. Since 31 December 2025 the same median fund has lost 8.05%, and not one of the 39 funds is up for the calendar year.

The Nifty 50 closed at 23,777.80 on Wednesday, 9.00% below its 2025 year-end close and 9.69% below its record of 26,328.55, set on 2 January.

All figures are for each fund's Direct plan, Growth option, computed from daily NAVs to 18 March 2026. Returns of one year or more are compounded annual rates; the year-to-date figure is a plain percentage change.

The spread

Over one year, only LIC MF ELSS Tax Saver is below zero, at −0.85%. Over three years the lowest return is still 7.23% a year.

ELSS funds can invest in companies of any size, so the broad Nifty 500 is a fair yardstick. Our estimate of its total return over the same three years is 16.34% a year, built from NSE's daily price and dividend yield. 17 of the 37 funds beat it; the median fund fell a little short.

Best and worst over three years

Motilal Oswal leads on one year and three years, and has fallen least this year. The Navi Nifty 50 index fund sits near the bottom because the Nifty 50 itself has trailed the broader market: our estimate of its total return over the three years is 13.08% a year, against 16.34% for the Nifty 500. There is no manager's call in it.

What the last two deadlines bought

The lock-in makes one comparison more useful than any trailing return: what did money put in at a previous year-end actually do?

Money from 31 March 2023. Units allotted that day complete their three-year lock-in at the end of this month. For the 37 funds with a NAV that day, the return to 18 March 2026 ranges from 7.36% to 23.66% a year, with a median of 15.64%. Every fund turned that money into more than it started with; the median fund grew it by about 54%.

Money from 31 March 2025. A year on, the picture is thinner. Across 39 funds, the median gain since that day is 2.71%, and 8 of the 39 are below where they started. The weakest, LIC MF ELSS Tax Saver, is down 3.14%; the strongest, Quant ELSS Tax Saver, is up 7.80%. The Nifty 500 price index is up 2.71% over almost the same dates, from its 28 March 2025 close.

The difference between the two is mostly timing. On 31 March 2023 the Nifty 50 closed at 17,359.75. It is 36.97% higher now, but only 1.10% above its close of 28 March 2025.

What this does not tell you

The deduction depends on your tax regime. As our guide to ELSS and Section 80C sets out, the 80C deduction, up to ₹1.5 lakh a year, exists only under the old regime. On the new regime an ELSS is an equity fund with a lock-in and no deduction.

The lock-in runs per instalment. Each purchase is locked for three years from its own allotment, so money invested this month is free in March 2029, whatever the market does in between.

A good three years says little about the next three. The funds at the top of this table are not guaranteed to stay there. None of this is advice to buy or sell any fund.

Where to go from here

The ELSS fund page lists every scheme with live numbers, and the ELSS calculator shows the tax saved alongside the corpus. For the other places 80C money can go, see Section 80C: the full menu.

For how the wider market got here, see our look at the Nifty 50's March correction, and for the corner of the market that has fallen hardest, small-cap funds in the March fall.