ELSS

This one is not written up yet

The definition above is the short version. A full explanation — how it works, a worked example and the exam traps — is still being written. In the meantime the chapter below covers it in context.

Written up from the same chapter

• Assets under ManagementThe total value of the money a scheme or a fund house manages — the current NAV multiplied by units outstanding — and the base on which the expense ratio is charged.
• Bonus strippingBuying units shortly before a bonus issue and selling the originals at the halved NAV to manufacture a capital loss — a loss the Income Tax Act disallows inside a defined 3-month and 9-month window.
• Dividend Distribution TaxThe tax a mutual fund scheme itself deducted before paying a dividend, abolished from April 2020 — since when the payout has instead been taxed in the investor's own hands at their slab rate.
• Equity-oriented fundA fund that puts at least 65% of its proceeds into listed domestic equity shares — the tax definition that unlocks the 12.5% long-term rate and the Rs 1,25,000 annual exemption.
• Exchange Traded FundA mutual fund scheme whose units are listed and traded on a stock exchange like a share, so you transact at live prices through the day instead of at one end-of-day NAV.
• Face valueThe denomination a company's capital is divided into and carried in its books — fixed, printed on the certificate, and the base on which dividend percentages and stock splits are computed.