You started a SIP sometime in 2024 or early 2025, watched your account statement every month, and the return figure sitting there today is somewhere between zero and four percent. The Nifty 50 has been roughly flat over the past year, oscillating in a range rather than trending cleanly upward. If you are feeling uneasy, you are in good company – AMFI data shows SIP inflows stayed above \u20b930,000 crore for the third straight month in May 2026, with contributions of about \u20b930,954 crore. which means millions of retail investors are staying put despite the same uncomfortable scoreboard.<\/p>\n
The short answer is that absolute return – the simple percentage your app shows – is not the right lens for a still-running SIP. Absolute return compares today’s value to the total amount you have deposited, treating every rupee as if it was invested on day one. But your January 2025 instalment has been working for 17 months while your May 2026 instalment has been working for barely a few weeks, so mixing them together produces a number that is technically correct but practically misleading.<\/p>\n
The right measure is XIRR, which stands for Extended Internal Rate of Return. XIRR accounts for the exact timing of each instalment and calculates the annualised return as if each rupee entered the portfolio on the day it actually did. A flat market over 12-15 months can still produce a positive XIRR of 4-8% on a running SIP, because your earlier instalments may have bought units at lower prices. Think of it like a train boarding at multiple stations – the passenger who boarded earliest has travelled the most distance, and XIRR gives each passenger credit for exactly how far they have come.<\/p>\n
A flat market is not a wasted market for a SIP investor. Every month, your fixed instalment buys units at whatever price the market offers. When the Nifty dips and then crawls back, your monthly Rs 10,000 buys more units during the dip and fewer when the index recovers. Over 12-18 months of sideways movement, this mechanical process lowers your average cost per unit below the market’s average level – and that structural advantage materialises fully when the market eventually moves higher.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, the scenario that feels most uncomfortable – a volatile, sideways market – often sets up the best outcome for a long-term SIP investor, because it is during this phase that units are accumulated at the lowest average cost. The table below illustrates how a Rs 10,000 monthly SIP behaves across three market environments over 12 months.<\/p>\n