Section 80C was introduced by the Finance Act, 2005. This section mainly provides deduction from the total income in respect of various expenditures / payments, investments on which a tax deduction was earlier available under Section 88. The total deduction under this section is limited to up to Rs. 1.5 lakh only. The Tax deduction under this scheme is available for Provident Fund (PF) & Voluntary Provident Fund, Public Provident Fund (PPF), Life Insurance Premiums, Equity Linked Saving Scheme (ELSS) of Mutual Funds.
There are some mutual funds schemes that offer tax savings and are called ELSS or Equity Linked Savings Schemes and these are eligible for deduction under section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961. These are mutual funds schemes that are invested in stocks and come with a mandatory lock-in period of three years. The ELSS is a very powerful investment tool that helps you build wealth in long term.