The NSE's main stock index, which tracks 50 large, actively traded companies and weights each by the market value of its publicly tradable shares. Read the full meaning of Nifty 50 closed at 22,780.25 on 28 September, dropping 1.56% for the day, while the Sensex finished at 72,771.72 after falling 1.52%. Those watching the Nifty dip together with A SIP is a method of investing a fixed amount in a mutual fund scheme at regular intervals, usually monthly, by automatic bank debit. Read the full meaning of SIP investors found the market day bringing another round of red screens and worried messages in family groups and investor forums.
Index stands roughly 13.6% below its top level of 26,373.20. This figure is derived by comparing the all‑time high with the latest closing number; it has not been disclosed as a separate statistic by any exchange or agency.
Individuals who started investing in the past two or three years are seeing a fall of this size for the first time, and many are opening their portfolio apps more often than before. Those who have been investing for longer are comparing the present fall with the ones they have already seen.
September has made the picture worse. Nifty was closing August at 24,080.40, and the fall after that sets September on track to become the weakest September for the index since 2018 when it had dropped 6.42%. Business Standard has reported this comparison.
The losses have not appeared on a single day or even a single week. The market index has been sinking for several consecutive weeks and each fresh low raises the same query from borrowers, salaried families and retired investors who are invested in equity funds: how long will this persist?
Two things can be checked against the available data. The first is how the present fall compares with the earlier corrections in the Nifty, one of which was recorded in 2024-25 and another in 2015-16. Both are useful because they show how deep and how long such periods have been in the past.
Second thing is what SIP investors are really doing. The headlines say there is a sell‑off, but the data on contributions from Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) is a separate record, and it tells a story quite different from what the index level tells us. In the following sections, we will look first at the market, then at the earlier falls and finally at the SIP numbers.
Seven weeks of losses and where the damage sits
Outlook Money said that Nifty slipped for seven consecutive weeks till 25 September, which marks the longest losing streak for the index since 2020. The market closed on that Friday at 23,140.50 and the fall on Monday pushed it lower again.
For investors who check their holdings only at the end of the week, the pattern was always same each time. Every Friday has brought a lower closing figure than the previous Friday, and no week has seen those earlier losses recovered.
The loss is not just limited to a handful of companies. According to multibagg.ai, 18 out of the 50 stocks in the Nifty are now more than 20% below their 52‑week highs, and the total drop in market value of those stocks is Rs 31.35 lakh crore. People who own these big‑cap companies directly, or hold them through An open ended mutual fund that holds the securities of a market index, such as the Nifty 50, in the same weights, so its returns stay close to that index. Read the full meaning of Index Fund or other large‑cap schemes, are feeling the decline across many areas of their investments.
Market reports have given a number of reasons for the sell-off:
- The yields on US government bonds are higher.
- The dollar has strengthened against other currencies, rupee included.
- Continued selling by foreign portfolio investors (A foreign portfolio investor (FPI) is an overseas entity registered with SEBI that buys Indian shares and bonds for returns without taking control. Read the full meaning of FII and FPI)
- Higher prices of crude oil
- Weak indications on the domestic economic expansion.
Each of these points has been mentioned by different reports and none of the reports ascribe the fall to a single reason. The analysts quoted in the news have differed in opinion as to which factor has the most influence.
Higher US bond yields and a strong dollar usually make investments in India less attractive to foreign funds, and that is the link the reports mention with FPI selling. Crude oil is a worry for a country that imports most of its supply, as it influences the import bill and the prices that consumers have to pay.
The weak domestic growth signals are the part that is closest to ordinary households. Salaried families and small business owners are noticing the slowdown in their own spending and income, and many are reading the market fall alongside these signs.
But index level is only a part of the story. It shows the prices at which shares are trading, but it does not show how many people are still putting money in mutual funds each month.
How this fall compares with 2024-25 and 2015-16
The last correction that investors still remember is the one that followed the September 2024 peak. According to Business Standard, the Nifty went down almost 12% over a period of four months, till the end of January 2025. Families who had started investing before that peak saw this type of dip for the first time.
Earlier, a much bigger decrease was seen back in 2015-16. Ace Equity data, as reported by Business Standard, shows the largest fall of the past decade was about 21%. That decline began in March 2015 and continued through February 2016, lasting almost a year, this is a lot longer than the four months of the 2024-25 correction.
The present decline of approximately 13.6% from the record high sits between these two points. It is a larger fall than the 2024-25 adjustment, but it remains far less than the drop recorded in 2015-16.
| Period | Fall in the Nifty | Duration | |---|---|---| | September 2024 to January 2025 | Nearly 12% | Four months | | March 2015 to February 2016 | About 21% | Close to a year | | Present fall | About 13.6% | Still continuing |
The final row of the comparison can still not be finished. It is not yet certain how long this current dip will keep on going, or whether the situation will worsen more than what we already see. The fact that it has been going down for seven weeks now shows that this decline has been steady for more than a month and a half, and the figures available in September 2026 did not point to where the trend would end.
Investors who are watching the index are therefore comparing the present level with two different experiences. Some are recalling the 2024-25 fall which had ended within a few months. Others, who have been investing since 2015, are recalling a period in which the index took many months to find a floor.
A monthly SIP works in a fixed way during such periods. The investor puts the same rupee amount into a fund on a set date each month, so when prices are lower, the same amount buys a larger number of units. When prices rise again, those units will be valued at the higher level. For an individual investing Rs 10,000 per month, the amount remains same in every month, while the number of units received will keep changing with the price on that date.
In general, the arrangement works like this, and it does not indicate how the current period will finish. Any units bought in a fall will stay at a loss as long as the market keeps staying below the price at which they were bought.
The index level indicates the price of stocks on a particular day. What the investors which run these SIPs are doing is kept a separate record, and the latest statistics on this can be found from AMFI.
What SIP investors did in August
The latest AMFI data for August shows that monthly SIP contributions have reached a record of Rs 32,297 crore, a rise of roughly 14.3% over August of last year. The number of SIP accounts contributing has climbed to 10.02 crore, and for the first time the figure has crossed 10 crore.
SIP assets under management were Rs 18.62 lakh crore, which amounts to approximately 21.4% of the total mutual fund industry assets. During that same month, the total assets of the industry rose by 1.5% to Rs 87.08 lakh crore.
Equity fund net inflows hit Rs 29,328.62 crore, an upsurge of 18.75% compared to the Rs 24,697.39 crore that came in during July. Small‑cap and mid‑cap funds absorbed more than half of these inflows, whereas large‑cap funds posted an outflow of Rs 1,147 crore. For the 66th consecutive month, equity inflows have turned positive.
These figures are for August, and most of the September fall had not yet taken place when they were recorded. The data for the present month will show what the investors did during the sell-off.
SIP contribution is a standing instruction given to a bank, so the amount reaching the fund each month changes slowly. Families who started these instructions earlier continue to have the money deducted on the same dates, no matter what the index shows that day.
The equity inflow figure is a different record. It includes lump sum purchases along with SIP money, and it shows how much new money the investors were willing to put into equity funds in a given month. August was the 66th month in a row in which this figure stayed positive, so the stretch covers several earlier falls and recoveries in the market.
The category data in the AMFI release is also worth reading. Small cap and mid cap funds which usually fall by more than the broader index in a weak market, received the larger share of the new money, while large cap funds saw investors taking money out. It is not known how these investors have reacted to the losses of September.
The AMFI figures for September will be released in the first half of October. They will tell us whether the contributions and inflows have stayed at the same August pace, even after the recent sell‑off.
