Invest in stars, not meteors
Of the tax-saving instruments available under Section 80C, equity linked savings schemes (ELSS) have in the past three years emerged as the most popular, thanks to the rapid rise of the Indian stock markets over this period. Assets under management of ELSS schemes has multiplied almost ten times from Rs 1,701 crore in January 2005 to Rs 16,811 crore in January 2008.
ELSS vs the rest
Risk, return, liquidity and tax benefits are the parameters on which any investment instrument is judged. ELSS scores over tax saving bank deposits, National Savings Certificate (NSC) and Public Provident Fund (PPF) both in terms of return and liquidity. While no tax is levied on interest income earned from PPF, its main disadvantage is the lack of liquidity (lock in of six years). In the case of bank deposits and NSC, withdrawals are permitted after five and six years respectively. However, the interest income earned from both these instruments does not enjoy tax waiver, which lowers their effective yield.
Despite the three-year lock-in, what has made ELSS popular is the good returns over the past three years (though being equity-linked, there is no guarantee that returns will continue to be good in future).
Cautious about NFOs
One of the common ploys used by mutual fund houses to attract investment is to come up with new fund offerings (NFO) in the ELSS domain, especially in the last quarter of the financial year. This year has been no different. Five fund houses have launched their tax-saving schemes that are currently open for subscription. However, investing in an NFO that does not offer a new fund management approach is not a good idea when there are so many existing ELSS with a proven track record.
Returns
Over the last five years, the Sensex generated a compounded annual return of 38.5 per cent. Fifteen of the 19 ELSS schemes outperformed the Sensex over this time horizon, with SBI Magnum Taxgain leading the pack. Over the three-year horizon, even the worst performer, Canara Robeco Equity Taxsaver, generated a return of 18.9 per cent. Even over this time horizon, SBI Magnum Taxgain was the leader with a return of 48.4 per cent. The Sensex generated a three-year compounded annual return of 36.4 per cent. However, a notable point about the three-year time horizon is that of the 20 funds in existence, only five outperformed the Sensex . The rest were all laggards.
While past performance over the longer tenure (three to five years) of ELSS schemes has been stellar, one also needs to see how well these schemes have weathered the recent volatility in the stock market. One needs to compare the performance of schemes that have been in existence for a long time against that of schemes that were launched only a year or two ago. What emerges is that SBI Magnum and HDFC Taxsaver, which have been the best performers over the three- and five-year horizons have slipped up over the last one year. Both of HDFC's ELSS schemes—HDFC Taxsaver and HDFC LT Advantage—have lagged behind the Sensex during this period.
According to Amar Pandit, a Mumbai-based financial planner, "If the fund has given a good return over the three- and five-year tenures but has been doing badly for the last four quarters or more, investors need to take a call on that fund."
DSP Merrill Lynch Taxsaver and Taurus Libra Taxshield are two other schemes that merit attention because of their strong performance over the last one year. With a return of 60.5 per cent, Taurus's scheme has been the best performer for the one-year horizon. However, the scheme's longer-term performance is not as good: it lagged behind the Sensex both over the three- and the five-year horizon. Its asset size is also small at Rs 11.8 crore, it is heavily invested (30.5 per cent) in the financial sector, and is more mid-cap oriented. It thus carries a lot of risk. DSPML Taxsaver, another scheme that has generated a good one-year return of 39.4 per cent is better placed with an asset size of Rs 345 crore. It is also well managed and invested in a diversified manner. Sundaram BNP Paribas Taxsaver, Principal Personal Tax Saver, Principal Tax Savings and Birla Sun Life Tax Relief 96 have done well over all the three tenures—one, three and five years.
Bottomline
Look for consistency of performance in an ELSS fund. While the long-term track record of three to five years is important, give importance to one-year return as well. Opt for schemes well-diversified schemes (funds that are overweight on mid-stocks may fetch higher returns but are more volatile). Ideally, you should also take into consideration the fund manager's track record. Finally, do look at the table (Stars, not meteors) for consistent performers.
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