ELSS fund returns in October 2026, and the 3-year lock-in

The number

Over the three years to 30 September 2026, the median ELSS fund returned 10.30% a year.

Three years is the length that matters for ELSS. Every rupee put into one is locked for three years from the day it is allotted, so the three-year return is what an investor from October 2023 is now free to take out.

The figures are for each fund's Direct plan, Growth option, computed from daily NAVs to 30 September 2026. We count the 38 open-ended ELSS funds and leave out 12 closed-ended series, such as SBI Long Term Advantage Fund Series IV to VI, which no longer take new money.

The spread

Over the last year, 24 of the 38 funds lost money. Over three years, none did.

Best and worst over three years

The Navi fund is an index fund that tracks the Nifty 50, so its place near the bottom is the Nifty 50's weak three years rather than a manager's call.

Most ELSS funds hold a broad, multi-cap portfolio, and the Nifty 500 is the usual benchmark. Against our estimate of the Nifty 500's total return, 9.71% a year over three years, 21 of 37 funds came out ahead. Over five years, against an estimated 9.25%, 21 of 30 did.

How often the lock-in ended in a loss

The more useful question for a locked-in investor is how often three years has not been enough.

We took the 25 ELSS funds with ten-year records and measured every three-year window that ends at a month-end, from January 2016 to September 2026. That is 3,110 windows.

• 74 of them, 2.38%, lost money.
• 70 of those 74 ended in 2020, the year of the Covid crash. The other four ended in 2019 and 2021.
• The worst was Nippon India ELSS Tax Saver: −12.04% a year over the three years to March 2020.
• The median window returned 16.17% a year, and 7.78% of windows returned less than 6% a year.

So the lock-in has almost always been long enough to avoid a loss, but not always long enough to beat a fixed deposit. And a loss has clustered in one bad year rather than being spread evenly.

What this does not tell you

The past decade was a good one for Indian equities. The windows above all come from 2013 onwards. A longer or rougher period could show a higher share of losing windows.

The tax benefit depends on your regime. The Section 80C deduction, up to ₹1.5 lakh a year across all eligible investments, is available only under the old tax regime.

Each SIP instalment has its own lock-in. A monthly investment made in September 2026 unlocks in September 2029, not when the first one does. None of this is advice to buy or sell any fund.

Where to go from here

The ELSS fund page lists every scheme, and the ELSS tax-savers screen shows those that beat 15% a year over three years. The ELSS calculator shows the tax saved and the corpus together.

Two guides go further: ELSS and Section 80C and ELSS vs PPF. For how the whole equity universe did over the same three years, see the equity category scorecard.

For what other equity funds charge to leave early, see equity fund exit loads.