A Nifty 500 SIP started in January lost money by December in 4 of 20 full years. The worst year was 2008 (−59% on the money invested), the best 2007 (86%). In 2020 it was 34% below the money put in at the worst point in March and still finished the year 57% up. The equal four-asset mix lost money in 3 of those years.
Written for SIP investors reading a year's statement. Data to 6 Oct 2026.
How a year is measured
Each year is a fresh SIP: Rs 10,000 on the first session of each month from January, valued on the year's last session as a fund statement would show it, after fund costs and before tax.
Why not XIRR for a single year. XIRR annualises. A December instalment that rises 3% in its one month becomes a 40%-a-year rate, and that swamps the eleven instalments before it. Over a year an XIRR mostly measures what the market did in the last few weeks.
What is used instead. The year's gain divided by the money that was, on average, invested during the year (each instalment counted for the share of the year it was in). This is the Modified Dietz return, the standard way to measure a portfolio's return when money flows in. It answers: for each rupee that was working this year, what did it make?
The worst point. The lowest the statement value went below the money put in so far, at any session in the year. Early in the year this can be large on small sums: a fall in February hits the two instalments that are in.
The Nifty 500, year by year
The bar is the year's SIP return; the dot below it is the worst point that year. Most years had a bad moment and still ended up.
SIP return over the year, on the average money invested, %Worst point below the money put in that year, %
2005 starts in April, when the common history begins. 2026 runs to 6 Oct 2026. In 2008 a SIP begun in January ended −59% on the money invested, which is worse than the index's own fall that year because more of the money went in near the top than near the bottom.
Four assets, equal quarters: SIP return over the year, %Worst point below the money put in that year, %
A quarter each in LargeMidcap 250, Smallcap 250, gold and the 5-year G-sec, rebalanced each January. In 2008 it ended −28%.
Every portfolio, every year
The same two measures for each of the fifteen portfolios. Read a column to compare portfolios in one year, a row to see one portfolio's run of years.
SIP return in each calendar year
Gain on the average money invested over the year, per cent. Colour saturates at ±60%
How to read it. Blue years made money, red years lost it. Equity rows swing together. In 3 of the 4 full years the Nifty 500 SIP lost money (2008, 2011, 2018), gold made money, which is why the mixes are paler.
SIP return in each calendar year. Heat table, 15 rows by 22 columns. Values from −79 to 127.
Source: tipsheet portfolio lab, computed from NSE total-return indices, the NSE 5-year benchmark G-sec index, domestic gold in rupees (World Gold Council), the 91-day T-bill as the liquid fund, RBI's bank deposit rates for fixed deposits, and all-India CPI.
Worst point below the money put in, each year
Per cent below cumulative instalments at the year's worst session. Colour saturates at −50%
How to read it. Darker is deeper. Almost every equity year has a moment under water; what differs is how deep it went.
Worst point below the money put in, each year. Heat table, 15 rows by 22 columns. Values from −54 to −0.
Source: tipsheet portfolio lab, computed from NSE total-return indices, the NSE 5-year benchmark G-sec index, domestic gold in rupees (World Gold Council), the 91-day T-bill as the liquid fund, RBI's bank deposit rates for fixed deposits, and all-India CPI.
The numbers
Nifty 500, each year's fresh SIP: money in, value at the year's last session, the return on the average money invested and the worst point.
Before tax, after fund costs. The value is the statement value on the year's last session.
Before tax, after fund costs. The value is the statement value on the year's last session.
Year
Put in
Value at year end
SIP return
Worst point
More
2005 (from Apr)
₹90,000
₹1,11,319
42.9%
−6.6%
2006
₹1,20,000
₹1,42,293
34.5%
−20.0%
2007
₹1,20,000
₹1,75,579
85.7%
−10.3%
2008
₹1,20,000
₹81,439
−59.5%
−48.0%
2009
₹1,20,000
₹1,73,136
81.9%
−12.3%
2010
₹1,20,000
₹1,32,085
18.6%
−6.8%
2011
₹1,20,000
₹99,214
−32.1%
−18.5%
2012
₹1,20,000
₹1,36,218
25.0%
−5.4%
2013
₹1,20,000
₹1,29,202
14.2%
−11.5%
2014
₹1,20,000
₹1,43,240
35.8%
−5.0%
2015
₹1,20,000
₹1,17,297
−4.2%
−8.9%
2016
₹1,20,000
₹1,22,470
3.8%
−11.1%
2017
₹1,20,000
₹1,38,263
28.3%
−0.1%
2018
₹1,20,000
₹1,18,742
−1.9%
−9.9%
2019
₹1,20,000
₹1,26,945
10.7%
−6.5%
2020
₹1,20,000
₹1,56,759
56.7%
−34.5%
2021
₹1,20,000
₹1,36,186
24.9%
−2.4%
2022
₹1,20,000
₹1,25,758
8.9%
−11.7%
2023
₹1,20,000
₹1,45,864
40.0%
−5.3%
2024
₹1,20,000
₹1,23,647
5.6%
−1.4%
2025
₹1,20,000
₹1,28,355
12.9%
−9.7%
2026 so far
₹1,00,000
₹97,978
−4.0%
−11.1%
Historical research on index portfolios, not investment advice. Returns are after fund costs; 'after tax' applies Indian capital-gains rules by date for a 30% slab investor and sells everything at the end. Most factor, mid-cap and small-cap index history before each index's launch date is back-tested by NSE. One 21-year sample, domestic assets only.