Section 80C Investments

Check which tax regime you are in first. Section 80C only exists in the old regime. The new regime is the default, and it allows no 80C deduction at all. On the new regime, every tax-saving product you buy this year saves you nothing.

If you are on the old regime, the cap is ₹1,50,000. The tax portal says it is one shared cap across 80C, 80CCC and 80CCD(1). It is not ₹1.5 lakh each.

How much can you claim under Section 80C?

₹1,50,000 in a financial year, and not a rupee more. The three sections share one ceiling. Old regime only.

Run the comparison first. Our old versus new regime calculator shows which costs you less. Many salaried people with no home loan are better off on the new regime. That holds even with a full 80C claim.

Which Section 80C option gives the best return?

Option	Return	Lock-in	Tax on the return	Who it suits
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana	8.2%	21 years from opening	Fully tax-free (EEE)	A parent with a daughter under 10
Senior Citizen Savings Scheme	8.2%	5 years, extendable by 3	Interest fully taxable	Retirees who need income now
National Savings Certificate	7.7%	5 years	Taxable; reinvested interest qualifies for 80C	Short horizon, no equity appetite
Public Provident Fund	7.1%	15 years, extendable in blocks of 5	Fully tax-free (EEE)	Long-horizon, 30% bracket
ELSS equity funds	Market-linked, not guaranteed	3 years, the shortest here	12.5% above ₹1.25 lakh of gains a year	People who can hold through a fall
Five-year tax-saver FD	Bank rate, varies	5 years, no premature exit	Interest taxed at your slab	Nobody, on this list
EPF, home loan principal, tuition fees	Not an investment choice	—	Varies	Everyone — these fill the cap for free

Rates are the small savings rates set for July to September 2026. We hold them as of 1 July 2026. We could not open the finance ministry memo itself. So treat the quarter as the thing to re-check.

What already fills your 80C limit before you invest?

Do this subtraction first. Most people skip it and over-invest.

Your own EPF contribution, deducted from salary every month.
The principal part of your home loan EMI, which is already being paid.
Tuition fees for up to two children.
Life insurance premiums you are already committed to.

Add those up. Many salaried people with a home loan find the cap is already full. Anything more you buy is locked money with no tax benefit. Our page on home loan tax benefits covers the principal and interest split.

Which 80C product should you avoid?

A traditional endowment or money-back life policy. It mixes cover with investment and does both badly. The cover is small for the price. The return is low. Exiting early costs you real money. It sells well in January because it is sold, not bought.

Buy term cover for protection and invest separately. The five-year tax-saver FD is the second weakest. Its interest is taxed at your slab each year. A 7% deposit then nets about 4.9% in the 30% bracket. See our FD rates page for what banks pay now. Note that tax-saver deposits are priced apart and cannot be broken early.

Does Section 80C still exist under the Income-tax Act, 2025?

The number is changing, the benefit is not. The Income-tax Act, 2025 replaces the 1961 Act. PRS Legislative Research puts the start date at 1 April 2026. Under the new Act, the ₹1.5 lakh savings break is reported to sit in Section 123, read with Schedule XV.

We are flagging a clash rather than hiding it. The tax portal’s own help pages still call it Section 80C, with a ₹1,50,000 shared cap. We could not open the Act text itself. incometaxindia.gov.in returns a 403 to us. So we quote the portal for the cap. We label the renumbering as reported, not verified.

So what should you actually buy?

In this order, if you are on the old regime. Sukanya Samriddhi comes first if you have a daughter who qualifies. At 8.2% tax-free, it is the best state-backed return an Indian household can get. Then ELSS, if you can hold equity for years and not just the three-year floor. Then PPF, for tax-free growth you will not touch.

NSC and SCSS suit shorter horizons and retirees. Skip the endowment policy. And if the new regime is cheaper for you, buy none of it — invest the same money without a lock-in. Our PPF calculator and Sukanya Samriddhi calculator show the maturity figures.

Common questions about Section 80C

Can I claim 80C under the new tax regime?

No. The tax portal says the ₹1,50,000 shared cap for 80C, 80CCC and 80CCD(1) is old regime only. The new regime is the default. You have to opt into the old one. Compare both first. The old regime wins only if your claims are large.

Is the ₹1.5 lakh limit per person or per family?

Per taxpayer. Two working spouses can claim ₹1,50,000 each, if both are on the old regime. The investment has to be made from the claimant’s own income. A Sukanya Samriddhi deposit for the same daughter counts against whichever parent claims it, not both.

Which 80C investment has the shortest lock-in?

ELSS, at three years from each instalment. Each monthly SIP instalment locks on its own. So a SIP started this year is not fully free until three years after the last one. NSC and tax-saver FDs lock for five years. PPF runs 15 years, with limited partial withdrawal allowed later.

Does NPS count inside the ₹1.5 lakh limit?

Your own NPS money under 80CCD(1) sits inside the shared cap. The extra ₹50,000 under 80CCD(1B) sits outside it. Employer NPS money under 80CCD(2) is separate again. It is the one NPS break you get in both regimes. Our NPS calculator works through the numbers.

What happens if I invest more than ₹1.5 lakh?

Nothing bad, but nothing good either. The excess simply gets no deduction. It does not carry forward to next year. Check what EPF, home loan principal and school fees already fill. Then top up only the gap.

Sources

Income Tax Department, e-filing portal help — deductions applicable to an individual return — the ₹1,50,000 combined limit for 80C, 80CCC and 80CCD(1), old regime only. Primary.
PRS Legislative Research, The Income-tax Bill, 2025 — the 1961 Act is replaced, with commencement proposed from 1 April 2026.
Credsir rate tables, Ministry of Finance quarterly small savings rates for July to September 2026 (Q2 FY 2026-27), as of 1 July 2026 — the scheme rates, tenures and tax treatment in the table above.
Credsir tax tables, as of 17 August 2026 — long-term capital gains on equity at 12.5% above ₹1.25 lakh a year.