You should consider the following criteria before selecting your tax saving investments for the year.

Liquidity: You should decide how quickly you will need the money because most of the investment methods do not let you withdraw your money quickly. Generally there is a three year lock period in almost all the tax saving investments.

Risk and Return: The amount of risk you want to take is an important factor. There are some investments which are available at a very low risk but they give low returns as well which are capped.

Inflation protection: The instruments which give you low returns are not considered good investment regarding inflation. Many of these investments will give you low returns and will also lock your money for a considerable long period. That is not a good protection against inflation.

Tax Exemption: Under Section 80C, all the tax saving investments are alike in one respect that when they are invested they are tax exempt. However they differ with respect to the tax on the income you earn from such an investment as well as the tax on the maturity of the investment.