Last Updated on December 29, 2021 at 12:06 pm
Here are seven ELSS mutual funds that have beat consistently outperformed Nifty large Midcap 250 Index over the last 3, 4 and 5 years. Again, only 7 out of 31 ELSS funds have qualified. If you are looking for an ELSS mutual fund in 2019, then this can be used as a shortlist.
Before we begin: Freefincal in 2018: 250 posts, 1.27 million visitors and 2.45 million page views. Thank you for your support. Wish you all a happy, healthy and peaceful new year.
What is Nifty large Midcap 250 Index?
Out of the top 500 stocks on the NSE in terms of free float market capitalization (Nifty 500), the top 100 are considered “large cap” (Nifty 100), the middle 150 as “mid cap” (Nifty Midcap 150) and rest as “small cap”.
The Nifty large Midcap 250 Index consists of 50% Nifty 100 and 50% Nifty Midcap 150. Here is an example of its performance: Looking for mid cap, small cap value stocks & mid cap growth stocks? Here is an easy way out!
Join 32,000+ readers and get free money management solutions delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to get posts via email! (Link takes you to our email sign-up form)
🔥Enjoy massive discounts on our robo-advisory tool & courses! 🔥
Why use Nifty large Midcap 250 Index as an ELSS benchmark?
ELSS mutual funds can invest across market cap and sectors as long as they maintain a minimum of 80% equity (a finance ministry requirement for ELSS). You will see funds benchmarking themselves with respect to Nifty 50, Nifty/BSE 200 or Nifty 500. Although many ELSS funds do have a large cap tilt, it is not uncommon to see 20-30% mid cap stocks in their portfolio.
If they could benchmark themselves with a Nifty 200 or Nifty 500, evaluating their performance with 50% Nifty 100 and 50% Nifty Midcap 150 is justified in my opinion. If we use easy to beat benchmarks, our shortlist will not be short enough to choose!
Considering that one does not have an Index ELSS fund, there is no harm in looking for ELSS funds that have beat a tougher benchmark in terms of risk and reward.
The full list of ELSS mutual fund considered
| Baroda Pioneer ELSS 96 Plan B(Direct) -Growth Option |
| Canara Robeco Equity Taxsaver Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option |
| HSBC Tax Saver Equity Fund – Growth Direct |
| Tata India Tax Savings Fund-Growth-Direct Plan |
| Kotak Tax Saver-Scheme-Growth – Direct |
| Quant Tax Plan-Growth Option-Direct Plan |
| ICICI Prudential Long Term Equity Fund (Tax Saving) – Direct Plan – Growth |
| SBI MAGNUM TAXGAIN SCHEME 1993 – DIRECT PLAN -GROWTH |
| Sundaram Diversified Equity – A Long-term Tax Saver Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option |
| Sundaram Diversified Equity Fund – Direct Plan |
| HDFC TaxSaver -Direct Plan – Growth Option |
| LIC MF Tax Plan-Direct Plan-Growth |
| Principal Tax Savings Fund |
| BNP Paribas Long Term Equity Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option |
| BOI AXA Tax Advantage Direct Plan Growth |
| Aditya Birla Sun Life Tax Relief ’96 – Growth – Direct Plan |
| Franklin India TAXSHIELD – Direct – Growth |
| Quantum Tax Saving Fund – Direct Plan Growth Option |
| Taurus Tax Shield-Direct Plan-Growth Option |
| UTI – Long Term Equity Fund (Tax Saving) – Direct Plan – Growth Option |
| DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund – Direct Plan – Growth |
| Invesco India Tax Plan – Direct Plan – Growth |
| JM Tax Gain Fund (Direct) – Growth Option |
| IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) Fund-Direct Plan-Growth |
| L&T Tax Advantage Fund-Direct Plan-Growth |
| Union Tax Saver Scheme – Direct Plan – Growth Option |
| Axis Long Term Equity Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option |
| Reliance Tax Saver Fund – Direct Plan Growth Plan – Growth Option |
| Edelweiss Long Term Equity Fund (Tax Savings) – Direct Plan-Growth Option |
| IDBI Equity Advantage Fund – Growth Direct |
| Motilal Oswal Long Term Equity Fund – Direct Plan |
Screening Steps applied
- Download the Dec 2018 freefincal equity fund screener
- Select “ELSS” as the category to get the above-listed funds.
- Ask how many funds have a rolling return outperformance score of greater than or equal to 70% with regard to the Nifty large Midcap 250 Index over 5 years. This means that suppose we compute the return over 5Y in 700 different periods, the fund (direct plan) should have beat the index at least 490 times or more.
This single requirement drops, the number from 31 to 9!!
| Quant Tax Plan-Growth Option-Direct Plan |
| Aditya Birla Sun Life Tax Relief ’96 – Growth – Direct Plan |
| DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund – Direct Plan – Growth |
| Invesco India Tax Plan – Direct Plan – Growth |
| JM Tax Gain Fund (Direct) – Growth Option |
| IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) Fund-Direct Plan-Growth |
| Axis Long Term Equity Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option |
| Reliance Tax Saver Fund-Direct Plan Growth Plan – Growth Option |
| IDBI Equity Advantage Fund – Growth Direct |
Out of these Reliance Tax Saver Fund-Direct Plan Growth Plan is special.
- Next, we demand a downside protection consistency score of greater than or equal to 70% with regard to theNifty large Midcap 250 Index. So here we compare the monthly returns of the fund with the index over every possible 5Y. The fund should have fallen less than the index when the index monthly return was negative with a consistency of 70% or more. See the screener download post for a technical definition.
Eight of those nine funds listed above satisfy this requirement over 5, 4 and 3 years. Except for Reliance Tax Saver. This fund has a downside protection consistency score of 25% (5Y), 21% (4Y) and 33%(3Y). So the message is to avoid Reliance Tax Saver!!
- Next, we also eliminate IDBI Equity Advantage Fund as its three-year rolling return outperformance is only 45%. This leaves us with the final list of seven ELSS funds.
Seven ELSS Funds that have beat Nifty large Midcap 250 Index
| Quant Tax Plan-Growth Option-Direct Plan |
| Aditya Birla Sun Life Tax Relief ’96 – Growth – Direct Plan |
| DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund – Direct Plan – Growth |
| Invesco India Tax Plan – Direct Plan – Growth |
| JM Tax Gain Fund (Direct) – Growth Option |
| IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) Fund-Direct Plan-Growth |
| Axis Long Term Equity Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option |
How to choose an ELSS fund from among these seven?
Go to Value Research and sort the ELSS funds by AUM. Axis Long Term Equity has too large an AUM compared to others. So avoid that.
Aditya Birla Sun Life Tax Relief ’96 is an old fund with not too much AUM. Choose that. Or, you can choose DSP Tax Saver. I am not comfortable with the rest of the AMCs.
The purpose of these posts is to illustrate how easy it is to screen for funds using the Dec 2018 freefincal equity fund screener. Happy new year to all readers.
Check out the latest from freefincal on Youtube
🔥Enjoy massive discounts on our courses, robo-advisory tool and exclusive investor circle! 🔥& join our community of 7000+ users!
Use our Robo-advisory Tool for a start-to-finish financial plan! ⇐ More than 2,500 investors and advisors use this!
Track your mutual funds and stock investments with this Google Sheet!
We also publish monthly equity mutual funds, debt and hybrid mutual funds, index funds and ETF screeners and momentum, low-volatility stock screeners.
- Do you have a comment about the above article? Reach out to us on Twitter: @freefincal or @pattufreefincal
- Have a question? Subscribe to our newsletter using the form below.
- Hit 'reply' to any email from us! We do not offer personalized investment advice. We can write a detailed article without mentioning your name if you have a generic question.
Join 32,000+ readers and get free money management solutions delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to get posts via email! (Link takes you to our email sign-up form)
About The Author
Dr M. Pattabiraman(PhD) is the founder, managing editor and primary author of freefincal. He is an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He has over ten years of experience publishing news analysis, research and financial product development. Connect with him via Twitter(X), Linkedin, or YouTube. Pattabiraman has co-authored three print books: (1) You can be rich too with goal-based investing (CNBC TV18) for DIY investors. (2) Gamechanger for young earners. (3) Chinchu Gets a Superpower! for kids. He has also written seven other free e-books on various money management topics. He is a patron and co-founder of “Fee-only India,” an organisation promoting unbiased, commission-free investment advice.Our flagship course! Learn to manage your portfolio like a pro to achieve your goals regardless of market conditions! ⇐ More than 3,000 investors and advisors are part of our exclusive community! Get clarity on how to plan for your goals and achieve the necessary corpus no matter the market condition is!! Watch the first lecture for free! One-time payment! No recurring fees! Life-long access to videos! Reduce fear, uncertainty and doubt while investing! Learn how to plan for your goals before and after retirement with confidence.
Our new course! Increase your income by getting people to pay for your skills! ⇐ More than 700 salaried employees, entrepreneurs and financial advisors are part of our exclusive community! Learn how to get people to pay for your skills! Whether you are a professional or small business owner who wants more clients via online visibility or a salaried person wanting a side income or passive income, we will show you how to achieve this by showcasing your skills and building a community that trusts and pays you! (watch 1st lecture for free). One-time payment! No recurring fees! Life-long access to videos!
Our new book for kids: “Chinchu Gets a Superpower!” is now available!
Must-read book even for adults! This is something that every parent should teach their kids right from their young age. The importance of money management and decision making based on their wants and needs. Very nicely written in simple terms. - Arun.Buy the book: Chinchu gets a superpower for your child!
How to profit from content writing: Our new ebook is for those interested in getting side income via content writing. It is available at a 50% discount for Rs. 500 only!
Do you want to check if the market is overvalued or undervalued? Use our market valuation tool (it will work with any index!), or get the Tactical Buy/Sell timing tool!
We publish monthly mutual fund screeners and momentum, low-volatility stock screeners.
About freefincal & its content policy. Freefincal is a News Media Organization dedicated to providing original analysis, reports, reviews and insights on mutual funds, stocks, investing, retirement and personal finance developments. We do so without conflict of interest and bias. Follow us on Google News. Freefincal serves more than three million readers a year (5 million page views) with articles based only on factual information and detailed analysis by its authors. All statements made will be verified with credible and knowledgeable sources before publication. Freefincal does not publish paid articles, promotions, PR, satire or opinions without data. All opinions will be inferences backed by verifiable, reproducible evidence/data. Contact information: letters {at} freefincal {dot} com (sponsored posts or paid collaborations will not be entertained)
Connect with us on social media
- Twitter @freefincal
- Subscribe to our YouTube Videos
- Posts feed via Feedburner.
Our publications
You Can Be Rich Too with Goal-Based Investing
Published by CNBC TV18, this book is meant to help you ask the right questions and seek the correct answers, and since it comes with nine online calculators, you can also create custom solutions for your lifestyle! Get it now.Gamechanger: Forget Startups, Join Corporate & Still Live the Rich Life You Want
This book is meant for young earners to get their basics right from day one! It will also help you travel to exotic places at a low cost! Get it or gift it to a young earner.Your Ultimate Guide to Travel
This is an in-depth dive into vacation planning, finding cheap flights, budget accommodation, what to do when travelling, and how travelling slowly is better financially and psychologically, with links to the web pages and hand-holding at every step. Get the pdf for Rs 300 (instant download)