INVESTMENTS UNDER SECTION 80-C --A REVIEW

Scheme	Description
Life Insurance Premiums	It is not necessary to have the insurance policy from Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) or any of the private life insurance company.
Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS):	The equity mutual fund scheme where there is lockin for 3 years. The amount you contribute of which about 90% is invested in equities (Stock market).
Provident Fund (PF) & Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF	PF is automatically deducted from your salary. Both you and your employer contribute to it. While employer’s contribution is exempt from tax, your contribution (i.e., employee’s contribution) is counted towards section 80C investments. You also have the option to contribute additional amounts through voluntary contributions (VPF). Current rate of interest is 8.5% per annum (p.a.) and is tax-free
Public Provident Fund (PPF):	Public Provident Fund (PPF) can be opened in various nationalized bans as well as post office. Current rate of interest is 8% tax-free and the maturity period is 15 years. Minimum amount of contribution is Rs 500 and maximum is Rs 70,000. A point worth noting is that interest rate is assured but not fixed
5-Yr bank fixed deposits (FDs):	Tax-saving fixed deposits (FDs) of scheduled banks with tenure of 5 years are also entitled for section 80C deduction.
National Savings Certificate (NSC)	National Savings Certificate (NSC) is a 6-Yr small savings instrument eligible for section 80C tax benefit. Rate of interest is eight per cent compounded half-yearly, i.e., the effective annual rate of interest is 8.16%. If you invest Rs 1,000, it becomes Rs 1601 after six years. The interest accrued every year is liable to tax (i.e., to be included in your taxable income) but the interest is also deemed to be reinvested and thus eligible for section 80C deduction
Home Loan Principal Repayment	The Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) that you pay every month to repay your home loan consists of two components – Principal and Interest.The principal component of the EMI qualifies for deduction under Sec 80C.
Infrastructure Bonds	These are also popularly called Infra Bonds. These are issued by infrastructure companies, and not the government. The amount that you invest in these bonds can also be included in Sec 80C deductions.
Pension Funds – Section 80CCC	This section – Sec 80CCC – stipulates that an investment in pension funds is eligible for deduction from your income and can be clubbed with section 80C investments
Stamp Duty and Registration Charges for a home	You can claim exemption on the stamp duty paid on the registration of your house for that particular year
Senior Citizen Savings Scheme 2004 (SCSS):	Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS) i meant only for senior citizens. Current rate of interest is 9% per annum payable quarterly. Interest income is chargeable to tax.
5-Yr post office time deposit (POTD) scheme	only 5-Yr post-office time deposit (POTD) – which currently offers 7.5 per cent rate of interest –qualifies for tax saving under section 80C. Effective rate works out to be 7.71% per annum (p.a.) as the rate of interest is compounded quarterly but paid annually. The Interest is entirely taxable.
NABARD rural bonds	There are two types of Bonds issued by NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development): NABARD Rural Bonds and Bhavishya Nirman Bonds (BNB). Out of these two, only NABARD Rural Bonds qualify under section 80C
New Pension Scheme (NPS)	This is the latest addition under section 80. Your entire contribution makes you eligible to claim exemption at par with other instruments mentioned above