A fund which has stayed determinedly large-cap tilted, even in a category crowded with multi-cap funds, Franklin India Taxshield has delivered good-enough returns to retain four- to five-star ratings for much of the last eight years. The fund's year-to-year returns don't always beat its more aggressive peers, but its performance adds up to very handsome returns over the long term. A fund which allocates a minimum 60 per cent of its portfolio to large caps, it has pegged up this exposure even higher, to 75 per cent in the last one year.

Mid and small caps now make up a fourth of the portfolio, shielding the fund from any valuation meltdown in this segment of the market. The fund also avoids momentum stocks and sticks to bottom-up fundamentals-based investing. Though this fund is from a growth-style fund house, it tends to be quite valuation conscious. The fund doesn't take cash calls and remains fully invested through cycles.

Outpacing the benchmark in 12 of the last 15 years, this fund has proved more adept at containing losses in bear markets than in really acing its peers in runaway bull phases. The last two years, however, have seen the fund widen its outperformance vis-a-vis the benchmark and the category. The fund's bottom-up picks in automobiles and ancillaries, ports and pharma may explain part of this, as also its underweight positions in PSU banks, metals and energy.

It's a top choice for risk-averse investors seeking ELSS benefits.