The first thing to know about investments is to avoid any plans that are linked with insurance. The reason is high commissions, and poor returns. Therefore please avoid any such policies. You can read more about this here.
The best tax saving investment plans are Public Provident Fund (PPF) and Equity Linked Savings Schemes (ELSS). PPF has a 15 year locking and ELSS Mutual Funds have a 3 year lock-in.
ELSS have performed well in the long run, some have given 12% plus returns in the long run. For a list of such funds, please click here.
Based on your risk appetite you can invest in a mix of both ELSS and PPF.
