While everybody is blindly recommending you to invest in ELSS that decisionis not so straightforward. While choosing the most ideal tax saving optionthere are two things you need to consider The amount of tax saving investments you need to do This is a function of your taxable income and also the fact that 80C Investments like ELSS PPF Life Insurance etc. all combined have to upto a maximum of Rs. 150000 The right product that you should use This is a function of expected returns risk involved and lockin periodAlso keep in mind the following for ELSS ELSS has a lock in of 3 years so you canu2019t withdraw your money before that Taxation is the same as normal equity taxation You can invest in ELSS via lumpsum or SIP. The total investments you make from April to March constitute the investment for the particular fiscal year. The amount you invest is not the amount of tax you save it is the amount which is deducted from your total taxable income. For eg. if you invest 100000 in ELSS funds your taxable amount reduces by that and based on the tax slab you are under you save on a corresponding amount of tax.Having pondered on that I will list below my contrarian picks on ELSS.Instead of the usual Tax Saving Funds recommendations like the Aditya BirlaTax Relief 96 Fund Axis Long Term Equity Fund DSP Tax Saver etc. I willrecommend a highly undervalued ELSS fundICICI Long Term Equity Fund Undervalued Portfolio may not have been an outperformer in the past few years but I believe it will outperform in thefuture which is what matters.A good investment made is only a job half done you would always need toperiodically monitor your portfolio and the individual funds to check if theyconfirm to your initial investment thesis.Do visit our online platform Moneyjar where we pick mutual funds for you toinvest in using a similar thought process and not only advice you and help youmake investments online but also constantly monitor your portfolio to ensureyou are on track.