A Slip Between The Cup And The SIP

While SIP cancellations hit a high in May and fell in June, the overall ratio continues to be very high.

- V. KESHAVDEV

The Mutual funds sahi hai campaign promoted by the Association of Mutual Funds of India — across television, print, outdoor and digital — has hit a crescendo with the industry body signing up cricketers right from Sachin Tendulkar, M.S. Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and others. The campaign has kept the momentum going in SIPs — at ₹1.99 lakh crore, gross SIP flows hit an all-time high in FY24, over 27% higher from FY23.

However, in 2024, May was a month to remember. The ratio of SIPs discontinued vs those registered hit a high of 88.4%, a peak that seemed to signal a seismic shift in investor behaviour. This turned out to be a one-off event, though, as the number of SIPs discontinued fell in June. Despite this, the landscape remains fraught with tension: The six-month average SIP cancellation rate stubbornly clings to a high of 57%. Even excluding May’s anomaly, the rate is still 50%.