Comparison of PPF and ELSS based on actual client data

In the table below, the first set of columns is an exact replica of the PPF pass book of my client.
Adjacent to this, I have put in what the same amounts would have done for him, if he had
invested the same amount on the same days into an ELSS fund. For this, I chose the HDFC Tax
Saver Fund for this comparison.
Here are some of the points I highlight from this table :

1. The same Rs.12.66 lakhs invested in ELSS grew 4 times more than what the PPF corpus
grew, over this 16 year period.
2. In the quest of not losing money, which led the investor to park money in PPF, he has
actually lost Rs. 60 lakhs of additional gain that he would have got in ELSS
3. At no point in the last 10 years, when the market has gone through all its gyrations, has
the ELSS corpus been less than the PPF corpus.
4. Even in March 2009, when the Sensex was at its lowest at 9000 levels, the ELSS corpus
was more than twice the value of the PPF corpus.
5. Even now, if the market were again to drop 50% like it did in 2008-09 (which nobody
believes it will), the ELSS corpus would still be higher than the PPF corpus, even after a
50% drop.
6. Apart from the returns aspect is the liquidity aspect. ELSS gives you liquidity after 3
years while PPF remains relatively illiquid for 15 years.