MAM
How does a SIP work for new investors?
Building long-term wealth through compounding is a gradual process. In the early stages, it may feel like your investment corpus isn’t growing significantly. However, over time, the magic of compounding begins to show its effect. Investing requires consistency and perseverance, especially since market fluctuations can test your patience.
Mutual Funds offer a convenient feature called the Systematic Investment Plan (SIP), which allows you to invest a fixed amount at regular intervals, ensuring continuity in your investment journey. SIPs can be tailored to suit any financial goal—short-term, medium-term, or long-term.
What is a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)?
A SIP is a method of investing in open-ended mutual funds by selecting a fixed amount and a preferred date for investment. You can start with as little as Rs 500 or Rs 250 per month (known as a Choti SIP), with no upper limit. SIPs are flexible—you can pause, modify, or stop them as needed, subject to fund house terms.
Many mutual funds also offer a Top-Up SIP option, allowing you to increase your SIP amount annually by a fixed percentage. This helps you accelerate your savings and reach your financial goals sooner.
How Does a SIP Work?
SIP investing is simple and automated. Once you set up a mandate, the chosen amount is deducted from your registered bank account and invested in the selected fund.
Key Benefits of SIP Investing
• Automated monthly investments
• Benefit from rupee cost averaging during market volatility
• Flexibility to change SIP date, amount, pause or cancel
• No need to time the market
• Participate in both market upsides and downsides
Things to Consider Before Starting Your First SIP
Before starting a SIP:
• Define your financial goals and timeline
• Assess your risk appetite
• Decide on asset allocation (equity, debt, gold, international funds, REITs, etc.)
• Choose suitable mutual funds based on your allocation
• Use SIP calculators to determine the monthly investment needed to reach your goal
Building Wealth the Simple Way
For new investors, SIPs offer a disciplined and convenient way to invest toward life goals. With a wide range of mutual fund schemes available, selecting the right fund is key to building a strong portfolio. If you’re unsure where to begin, consult a financial advisor for guidance.
FAQs
Are SIPs better than one-time investing?
Equity markets tend to be volatile. Hence, SIP offers the benefit of rupee cost averaging. This ensures that you get more units when the markets fall and less units when it rises, thereby averaging the cost per unit of your investment. In fact, SIP may reduce the risk of timing the market so that your investment can benefit from volatile markets.
How does a SIP actually work for new investors?
A SIP works by investing a fixed amount in a mutual fund at regular intervals. Once the mandate is set up, the amount is automatically debited from your bank account and invested in the chosen fund, helping you invest in a disciplined manner without tracking market movements.
Should I pause my SIP when market is falling?
Investing through SIP when markets are falling helps you accumulate more mutual fund units. Every time the market falls, your SIP buys more units. In case of negative returns, the loss you see is only notional, i.e., it will be real if you decide to sell off your holdings. Benefits of a SIP are seen over the long term when you keep investing regularly over different market cycles.
Can SIP investment be stopped and restarted later?
You can pause or stop your SIP at any time, subject to the terms of the fund house. The units you have already invested remain unaffected, and you can restart the SIP later based on your requirements.
How much amount should I invest through SIP?
The SIP amount should reflect your goals. Minimum investment amount to start a SIP may vary across Fund Houses.
What should be the ideal SIP date every month?
You can start a SIP on any day of the month, depending on the available options that vary across fund houses.
How long should I continue my SIP Investment?
Start an SIP with a financial goal in mind like buying a car or higher education of your child. The time to fulfil your financial goal should be the tenure of your SIP.
Can I make changes in my SIP investment later?
You can change the date of debit and frequency, modify the SIP amount, and also pause or stop your SIP, depending on the available options that vary across fund houses.
How do I begin?
Where you invest depends on your risk profile and investment horizon. You should consult a trusted financial advisor who can help you invest to plan for your life goals.
How can I achieve my goals using SIP?
Decide your financial goal and the amount of money you need to achieve it. Then, you can use a SIP calculator to find out the amount you will need to invest regularly to meet your financial goal.
Disclaimer:
1Past performance may or may not be sustained in future and is not a guarantee of any future returns.
Mutual Funds do not have a fixed rate of return and it is not possible to predict the rate of return.
Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.
This is part of an investor education and awareness initiative by PGIM India Mutual Fund.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
