Glossary· Costs & scheme terms

What is Lock-in?

A period in which units cannot be redeemed at all.

Distinct from exit load, which lets you leave for a fee. Three years for ELSS (the tax-saving category); most open-ended funds have none.

For the formula and the constants behind this figure, see Methodology.

Guides that use Lock-in

11 guides put this term to work.

ELSS: save tax while building wealth — if you are on the right regimeSection 80C exists only under the old regime, which turns “is ELSS worth it?” into a question about your tax regime rather than about the fund.
ELSS vs PPF: same ₹1.5 lakh, two completely different productsThree years of lock-in against fifteen, equity risk against a notified rate, and a deduction that exists only on the old regime. Which one suits your money.
Target maturity funds: a bond ladder wrapped as an index fundA fixed maturity date is the whole design: hold to it and you get roughly the yield you bought at, whatever rates did. Sell early and that is gone.
Mutual fund taxation decoded: short-term vs long-term capital gainsEquity, debt, hybrid and ELSS are taxed under different rules, and the rules changed twice in three years. What applies now, and to which of your units.
Structuring a portfolio for your child's higher educationThe one goal with an immovable date and inflation well above the headline. The glide path that gets you there, and what SEBI's discontinued category means.
The small savings family: PPF, SSY, NSC, KVP, SCSS and kinOne sovereign family, priced quarterly. Which schemes compound, which pay income, which are tax-exempt — and why after-tax yield, not the poster rate, matters.
Section 80C: the whole ₹1.5 lakh menu, not just ELSSA shared ceiling, not a product — and EPF, home-loan principal and tuition fees may already fill it. Count the headroom before you buy anything to fill it with.
The NPS decoded: two tiers, four asset classes, one compulsory annuityTier I is the only part that matters. The 75% equity cap that limits its upside, and the 40% annuity floor at 60 that rises to 80% if you leave early.
NPS or mutual funds for retirement? The honest comparisonFunds win on equity exposure, liquidity and the exit; the NPS wins on cost and a deduction no fund offers. Your tax regime decides whether it exists.
PPF in depth: the fifth-of-the-month rule, loans and the extension nobody usesGenuinely EEE and far more flexible than its reputation: loans from year three, withdrawals from year seven, and five-year extensions past maturity.
Sukanya Samriddhi: the best guaranteed tax-free rate India offersFor a daughter under ten, funded fifteen years, maturing at twenty-one and legally hers — the guaranteed floor under an education goal, not the whole plan.

What is Lock-in?

Guides that use Lock-in

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