HDFC ELSS - Tax Saver Fund
Fund basics
Everything the NAV says
Computed from 3,361 published NAVs between 1 Jan 2013 and 27 Aug 2026 — 13.7 years of history. Nothing here is an estimate; it is arithmetic on what the fund actually printed.
How it has moved
Return over time (%)
| Fund name | 1M | 3M | 6M | 1Y | 3Y | 5Y | 7Y | 10Y | Since launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HDFC ELSS - Tax Saver Fund Direct | 1.55 | 4.19 | -3.34 | -0.84 | 15.11 | 15.92 | 17.10 | 13.75 | 14.21 |
| Nifty 500 benchmark | 0.87 | 4.31 | 2.15 | 5.20 | 12.49 | 11.41 | — | — | 15.49 |
| ELSS (Tax Saving) category median · 61 funds | — | — | — | 3.06 | 13.90 | 13.17 | — | 13.83 | — |
Anything over a year is annualised (CAGR); shorter windows are absolute. The benchmark row is the index fund named below, priced daily by AMFI like every other scheme here. The category row is the median Direct plan in ELSS (Tax Saving) — the middle fund, not a ranking, and a median rather than an average so that one mis-stated scheme cannot move it. As on 27 Aug 2026.
Risk measures
| Fund name | Volatility | Sharpe | Sortino | Beta | Alpha | Max fall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HDFC ELSS - Tax Saver Fund Direct | 15.91 | 0.54 | 0.75 | 0.93 | 2.33 | -44.14 |
| Nifty 500 benchmark | 17.16 | 0.35 | 0.47 | — | — | -37.31 |
Risk-free rate 6.5%. Beta and alpha need an index, so the benchmark's own row leaves them blank.
Against its benchmark
Regressed on the 83 months this fund and Nifty 500 (via Motilal Oswal Nifty 500 Index Fund) both have. Alpha is Jensen's — the return left over after the market move this fund's own beta would predict.
| Alpha | Beta | R² | Fund vs index | Up capture | Down capture | Tracking error | Information ratio | Treynor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.33% | 0.93 | 95% | 1.57% | 98% | 87% | 4.20% | 0.37 | 12.92 |
Up and down capture are the pair worth reading together: a fund that takes 95% of the rises but only 80% of the falls is doing something a headline CAGR will never show you.
Risk
| Volatility | Downside volatility | Sharpe | Sortino |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15.9% | 11.5% | 0.54 | 0.75 |
Risk-free rate 6.5%, roughly the 10-year government bond.
The worst it has been
| Deepest fall | Time to recover | Today, from its peak |
|---|---|---|
| -44.1% | 10 months | -5.3% |
A drawdown is the fall from a previous high to the low that followed it. It is the number that decides whether somebody stays invested — a fund can have an excellent ten-year return and still have been unbearable to hold in year four.
Every one-year period it has lived through
| Best year | Median year | Worst year | Losing years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 83.5% | 12.7% | -37.5% | 20% |
Rolling returns ask a fairer question than a single five-year figure: not "what did it do from this one start date", but "what happened across every start date". A fund whose worst year is −45% is a different proposition from one whose worst is −8%, even if the averages match.
Calendar years
If you had run a SIP
₹10,000 every month for five years — ₹600,000 invested in all — would be worth ₹844,818 today, an XIRR of 13.67% a year.
XIRR, not CAGR. A SIP's money arrives over sixty months, so most of it has been invested for far less than five years — which is why this figure normally sits below the five-year CAGR above in a rising market, and above it in a falling one. It is the return the investor got, not the return the fund got.
What it actually holds
The real portfolio the AMC filed with AMFI. Nothing here is estimated — when a fund has no filing in our store the section simply does not appear. A fund is its holdings; the returns above are only what those holdings did.
Asset allocation
A fund's risk starts here — how much of it is even in the market — before any question of which stocks or which sectors. Cash is not idleness; it is the manager's choice not to be invested, and it shows up as a drag in a rising market and a cushion in a falling one.
Portfolio aggregates
Concentration
| Number of stocks | 59 |
|---|---|
| Top 5 stocks | 35.21% |
| Top 10 stocks | 52.60% |
| Top 20 stocks | 70.73% |
| Largest single holding | 9.64% |
| Largest sector | Banks · 35.77% |
| Number of sectors | 28 |
| Effective stocks | 25.6 |
| Cash & equivalents | 1.11% |
Counting positions overstates diversification. The effective-stocks figure is the honest count: a portfolio can hold seventy names and still have most of its money in twenty.
Sector allocation
Largest holdings
Top 10 are 52.6% of the fund. A high number means a concentrated portfolio — fewer names doing more of the work, for better and for worse.
Disclosed holdings from the AMC's AMFI filing, largest first. A portfolio is filed monthly and shifts between filings — this is the most recent one loaded, not a live book.
How it compares in its category
Against the ELSS (Tax Saving) Direct schemes with the highest three-year return. Same category, same plan — the only comparison that means anything. The list re-sorts itself as returns move; it is an ordering by one number, not a view on which fund anyone should hold.
| Scheme | Return | Alpha | Beta | Volatility | Sharpe | Max fall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HDFC ELSS - Tax Saver Fund HDFC Mutual Fund · this scheme | 15.1% | 2.3% | 0.93 | 15.9% | 0.54 | -44.1% |
| SBI Long Term Advantage Fund - Series V SBI Mutual Fund | 22.1% | 4.4% | 0.95 | 16.2% | 0.96 | -35.8% |
| ITI ELSS Tax Saver Fund ITI Mutual Fund | 19.1% | 1.9% | 1.04 | 17.9% | 0.70 | -38.5% |
| WhiteOak Capital ELSS Tax Saver Fund WhiteOak Capital Mutual Fund | 18.5% | 6.3% | 0.94 | 13.0% | 0.92 | -16.4% |
| HSBC ELSS Tax saver Fund HSBC Mutual Fund | 18.2% | 5.7% | 0.99 | 15.3% | 0.77 | -19.2% |
| JM ELSS - Tax Saver Fund JM Financial Mutual Fund | 18.0% | 3.3% | 1.01 | 17.0% | 0.68 | -37.4% |
| Baroda BNP Paribas ELSS Tax Saver Fund Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund | 17.6% | 3.4% | 0.94 | 13.8% | 0.80 | -17.3% |
| Quant ELSS Tax Saver Fund quant Mutual Fund | 17.3% | 11.9% | 1.03 | 16.8% | 0.64 | -36.1% |
| BANK OF INDIA MID CAP TAX FUND SERIES 1 Bank of India Mutual Fund | 16.8% | 6.4% | 0.97 | 17.1% | 0.61 | -35.9% |
Alpha and beta are against Nifty 500. Max fall is the deepest peak-to-trough drop in each fund's own history, so a longer-running fund has had more chances to record a bad one. Click a column to sort. This is a sort, not a ranking, and nothing here is a recommendation.
What a ELSS (Tax Saving) scheme is
At least 80% in equity, with every investment locked for three years.
The only mutual fund that cuts your tax bill — up to ₹1.5 lakh a year under Section 80C of the old regime. The three-year lock is per instalment, so a SIP started today frees up one instalment at a time.
Who it suits. Anybody using the old tax regime who would be investing in equity anyway.
How long money should stay. The 3-year lock is a floor, not a plan — treat it as 7 years.
Questions people ask
What is the NAV of HDFC ELSS - Tax Saver Fund — Direct Plan — Growth Option?
₹1,511.2480 as on 27 Aug 2026, from AMFI's daily NAV file. NAV is declared once each business day after markets close, so the figure here is the most recent one published.
What is the difference between the Direct and Regular plan of HDFC ELSS - Tax Saver Fund?
They hold the identical portfolio, run by the same manager. A Regular plan pays a distributor commission out of the fund, inside its expense ratio — commonly 0.5% to 1.2% a year more than Direct. That difference is charged on the whole balance, every year, so it compounds: on ₹1,00,000 held ten years a gap of 1.5 percentage points is roughly ₹1.4 lakh of ending value. Direct is the same fund without the commission.
What does the Growth option mean?
Growth reinvests everything the fund earns back into the NAV. Nothing is paid out, so the NAV rises with returns and you are taxed only when you sell. For anybody who does not need income from the investment, Growth is the simpler and usually the more tax-efficient option.
What kind of scheme is this?
At least 80% in equity, with every investment locked for three years. The only mutual fund that cuts your tax bill — up to ₹1.5 lakh a year under Section 80C of the old regime. The three-year lock is per instalment, so a SIP started today frees up one instalment at a time.
How long should money stay in it?
Typically The 3-year lock is a floor, not a plan — treat it as 7 years. Anybody using the old tax regime who would be investing in equity anyway.