Investing Insights: SIPs, Funds and FD Returns

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5.54%retail inflation, Sept 2026

6.30% to 7.50%1-year FD, middle to highest bank

14.0% a yeartypical 5-year fund result (large cap)

40%of funds lost money in 2025-26

10.45 croreSIP accounts paying in

₹16,413 croreaverage net SIP money a month, +25.8% in a year

94 of 100SIPs ended or finished in 2025-26 for every 100 started

Safe money

Where to keep money you cannot risk

−1.14%real yearly return of a 6.3% FD at the 30% tax slab

At the 30% tax slab, a 6.3% FD leaves you slightly behind rising prices

What an FD earns after tax, and after inflation (retail inflation 5.54%, September 2026).

What this means: Red means your money buys less than a year ago, green means it buys more. Your tax slab changes the colour more than which bank you pick: the highest-paying bank adds about 1.2 points.

Inflation: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Consumer Price Index base 2024=100, All India, combined; the latest month is provisional and may be revised. FD rates: collected by our team from banks' published rates, last checked 2026-10-09. Tax is the slab rate plus 4% cess; surcharge, the tax-free limit and TDS are not modelled; interest assumed paid out yearly. An illustration, not tax advice.

₹3,500yearly gap on ₹1 lakh between the lowest and highest FD

The same ₹1 lakh earns up to ₹3,500 more a year depending on the bank

One-year FD rates across 47 banks, general customers.

What this means: The gap between banks is as large as the gap between an FD and prices. Compare before you book.

Rates collected by our team from banks' published rates, last checked 2026-10-09. Banks change rates without notice.

₹5 lakhthe most insured per person per bank, interest included

Deposit insurance covers ₹5 lakh per person at each bank, so ₹15 lakh in one bank leaves ₹10 lakh uncovered

How much of a deposit in one bank is insured, by deposit size.

What this means: The limit counts principal and interest together and adds up all your branches of the same bank. Split over several banks, each gets its own ₹5 lakh, at the cost of a lower rate in some cases. A separate ₹5 lakh applies to each ownership capacity, for example a single-name account and a joint account.

DICGC, A Guide to Deposit Insurance and FAQs (dicgc.org.in/guide-to-deposit-insurance, dicgc.org.in/FAQs). 46 of the 47 banks we compare are on DICGC's list of active insured banks as on 29 September 2026; North East Small Finance Bank was not found on that list. None of them is on DICGC's "Banks under AID" list (co-operative banks only). Primary co-operative societies are not insured. Not advice.

Growing money in funds

What past data says about funds

₹1.92 lakhtypical result of ₹1 lakh after 5 years (large cap)

₹1 lakh over 5 years: funds usually beat prices and an FD, but not always

The bar shows the usual range of outcomes. The thick line is the typical result.

What this means: In the past data, the typical 5-year result for each fund type sat to the right of both the FD (after a 30% tax slab) and the price line. The thin line on the left shows the worst runs, which fell below the money you started with or barely above it.

AMFI NAV history since 2013-01, Direct plan, Growth option; funds that exist today. Bar = middle 80% of results (10th to 90th percentile); thin line = worst to best. FD: middle bank's 1-year rate 6.30%, 30% slab plus 4% cess.

₹8.6 lakhtypical result of ₹6 lakh put in over 5 years (large cap)

₹10,000 a month for 5 years: ₹6 lakh went in, and small cap came out anywhere from ₹6.6 to ₹13.8 lakh

What a monthly SIP turned into, for three fund types.

What this means: Large and flexi cap bad runs ended near what a 7% FD would have given. Small cap had the highest typical result and also the widest range, including runs that ended below ₹6 lakh.

Every 5-year SIP that started in any month since 2013-01. Bar = 10th to 90th percentile; thin line = worst case. Taxes and charges not included; closed and merged funds are missing.

1.7% → 0%chance of loss, 3 years → 10 years (large cap)

The longer money stays in, the rarer a loss becomes: 1.7% of 3-year runs, 0% of 10-year runs (large cap)

Share of one-time investments that ended below what was put in.

What this means: This is why long goals are usually tied to funds and short goals to FDs. Small cap shows losses even at 5 years.

Same data as above; one-time investment held 3, 5 and 10 years.

86–91 of 1005-year runs that grew faster than the best 5-year FD (8.51% a year)

Over 5 years, 86 to 91 of every 100 fund runs ended ahead of today's best 5-year FD

Share of five-year runs that beat the best FD yield we found today.

What this means: Ending ahead in most runs is not a promise. The same funds were behind the FD in the other runs, and by more in the worst ones.

An FD rate from an earlier year would have been different. AMFI NAV history, Direct plan, Growth option; funds that exist today.

74%of 5-year runs where all-at-once beat 12 monthly parts

Putting everything in at once beat spreading over 12 months in about 75% of cases

Share of 5-year runs where a lump sum finished ahead of 12 monthly parts.

What this means: Markets mostly rose in this period, so waiting cost money more often than it saved it. In a long fall the answer would flip. The Fine Print article goes through it in full.

Our analysis of AMFI NAV data; money waiting earns nothing here.

How the crowd behaves

Where everyone else put their money

40%of mutual funds lost money in 2025-26

In 2 of the last 7 years, about 4 in 10 mutual funds lost money

Every scheme sorted by what it returned that year (red = lost, green = gained).

What this means: A year where many funds lose is normal, not a sign of a broken fund. It happened in 2019-20 and 2025-26, and in between most funds gained.

SEBI Annual Report 2020-21, Table 5.7 (page 144); SEBI Annual Report 2021-22, Table 5.6 and text (pages 126, 127); SEBI Annual Report 2023-24, Tables 5.7, 5.10 and 5.11 (pages 105 and 106); SEBI Annual Report 2024-25, Tables 5.7, 5.10 and 5.11 (pages 111 to 113); SEBI Annual Report 2025-26, Tables 5.7, 5.10 and 5.11 (pages 88 to 90). Direct plan, Growth option schemes of every type, debt funds included.

₹51,872 crbiggest yearly inflow into small cap, in a year it returned 2%

Money tends to arrive after the good year, not before: small cap saw ₹3,035 crore leave in its best year

Net money into the category each year, against what the middle fund returned.

What this means: In 2020-21, small cap returned about 108% and money left. The most money in a year of this period (₹51,872 crore, 2025-26) came in a year the middle fund returned 2%. This shows what happened, not why.

Money: AMFI Monthly, added up by financial year. Returns: our NAV data, 1 April to 1 April, funds that exist today.

₹4.2 lakh crnet money into equity funds in 2024-25, the highest year

Equity funds got money in 6 of 7 years, while debt funds swung between inflow and outflow

Net money into each type of fund, year by year (₹ lakh crore).

What this means: Debt funds saw their biggest inflow in 2020-21 and their biggest outflow in 2022-23. Equity money was positive in every year except 2020-21, and was largest in 2024-25.

AMFI Monthly, open-ended schemes, April to March years up to 2026-09.

Staying invested

Do people stick with SIPs?

94 of 100SIPs ended or finished for every 100 started in 2025-26

For every 100 SIPs started, 94 ended or finished in 2025-26: starting is easy, staying is hard

SIPs started against SIPs stopped or completed. SIP accounts rose from 5.2 to 10.45 crore in 4 years.

What this means: The number paying in still rises, but a large part of each year's new SIPs replaces ones that ended. "Ended" includes SIPs that reached their end date. Latest month: in August 2026, SIP contributions reached ₹32,297 crore from 10.02 crore accounts, a record.

42%of SIP folios are under ₹1,000

About 4 in 10 SIP folios are under ₹1,000

SIP folios grouped by value (a folio is one account with one fund house).

What this means: Most SIPs are small. The typical SIP investor is putting in modest amounts, not large sums.

SEBI Annual Report 2025-26, Tables 5.7, 5.10 and 5.11 (pages 88 to 90)

What it costs

Charges that quietly eat returns

₹1.5–2.1 lakhwhat the Regular plan's extra charge costs over 10 years on ₹12 lakh

A Regular plan's higher yearly charge costs ₹1.5 to ₹2.1 lakh over 10 years

Yearly charge, Direct against Regular plan, and what the gap does to ₹10,000 a month for 10 years.

What this means: Both plans hold the same investments; the charge is deducted from your money every year. Regular plans include a distributor commission that Direct plans do not. The gap is about 1.1 points a year for every fund type.

AMFI "TER of MF Schemes", middle value across open-ended schemes, as on 2026-10-21; total expense ratio as AMFI reports it (base expense, brokerage, transaction costs and statutory levies). 10-year values use each type's typical SIP return (Direct plan) and, for Regular, the same return less the difference in charges. An approximation: distributor service, which Regular plans may come with, is not valued. Not advice.

Before you rely on this

What the numbers cannot tell you

Funds that were closed or merged are not in the data, which makes every fund result look better than the full picture.
It is one 13-year period, mostly rising. A long fall would look different.
Taxes on fund gains and exit loads are not included. Inflation is a national average; your own costs may differ, and the latest month is provisional.
Past results do not predict future ones. FinResp analyses. You decide.

How much history	Funds (5 years)	Start months (5 years)	Funds (10 years)	Start months (10 years)
Large cap	27	106	22	46
Flexi cap	27	106	18	46
Mid cap	22	106	17	46
Small cap	22	106	13	46
ELSS (tax saver)	30	106	25	46
Aggressive hybrid	26	106	19	46

Neighbouring start months share most of their history, so they are not independent tests.

Words used here: folio is one account with one fund house; net money is money put in minus money taken out; SIP is a fixed amount invested every month; lump sum is all the money invested at once; typical is the middle result. Try it for your own amount: SIP calculator · Lump sum calculator · FD finder · How we get and check this data

Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks; read all scheme-related documents carefully. Past performance does not guarantee future returns. FinResp is not an investment adviser: this page is information, not advice.

What past data says about saving and investing