So the next time the market is falling and you feel the itch to stop your SIP, remember this: the feeling is normal, the action is costly. (AI image)

Let me guess your SIP journey.You start with great enthusiasm. You’ve read about compounding, you’ve seen the long-term Sensex chart, you’ve promised yourself, “Yeh SIP toh 15 saal chalegi.” For a while, everything behaves. Markets are up, your app shows green, you feel like a genius.Then one fine day, markets start falling. Your returns go from +18% to +9%. You are uncomfortable, but okay. Then it goes to +2%. Then to –5%. Suddenly, the same SIP that made you feel smart now makes you feel stupid.And then the thought arrives: “Why am I putting good money after bad? Let me stop for now. I’ll restart when things look better.”Of course, when things “look better”, the market is already up again. You restart your SIP near the top. Next fall, repeat.If this sounds familiar, congratulations: you are completely normal and quietly sabotaging your own plan.The first thing to understand is what a SIP actually does. It does not guarantee returns. What it does is force you to buy more units when markets are down and fewer when markets are up. It only works if you let it do this job when it feels most uncomfortable.You don’t have to take my word for it. Let’s look at how SIPs behave through a bad period.

Stopping SIPs during market falls can be costly

At Value Research, when we run such SIP-through-crash scenarios, the pattern is boring and brutal. The investor who continued investing during the fall usually ends up with more units at a lower average cost and a larger corpus a few years later. The investor who stopped and waited for “visibility” ended up doing the investment equivalent of buying umbrellas after the monsoon.So why do we keep stopping SIPs even when we know, at an intellectual level, that this is a bad idea?One reason is that we experience losses more strongly than gains. Behavioural economists call it “loss aversion”; in normal language, it’s just “mujhse ye nuksaan dekha nahi jaata.” A 10% fall hurts more than a 10% gain pleases us. So when you see your portfolio in red, your brain screams, “Stop the pain!” Stopping the SIP feels like doing something sensible, when in fact you’re just locking in the discomfort without getting the future benefit.Another reason is that we forget that the money going into a SIP during a crash is buying units at a discount. All we see is, “Market gir raha hai, mera paisa doob raha hai.” We don’t see, “I am picking up more of the same fund at a discount.”Here’s a small example to make that clearer.Imagine you run a SIP of ₹10,000 per month in a fund whose NAV moves like this for one year:

If you stop your SIP exactly when the NAV is ₹70, you are refusing to buy when it is cheapest. That is the opposite of what you would do in a sale for anything else in life.

SIPs average your purchase cost

So what can you do to stop yourself from pressing the “pause” button every time the market misbehaves?The first step is to separate your money by time. If you are using equity SIPs for long-term goals—10, 15, or 20 years away—then you should not depend on that same money for near-term emergencies or short-term needs. That is why I keep repeating the boring basics: have an emergency fund and appropriate debt or bank savings for short-term goals. At Value Research, we insist on seeing this cushion before saying, “Haan, ab equity SIP karo.” If your SIP money is truly long-term, then a bad year is a bump, not a verdict.The second step is to decide your SIPs when you are calm, and then refuse to renegotiate with your future panicked self. You can even write down a simple rule for yourself: “I will not stop my SIPs because of market levels. I will only stop if my income situation changes drastically.” Treat it like a standing instruction to yourself, not just to the bank.A third step, if you can handle it psychologically, is to flip the script. Instead of thinking, “Market gir raha hai, mera nuksaan ho raha hai,” believe, “Market is on sale, my SIP is buying more.” Some disciplined investors even increase their SIPs slightly during big falls, but that’s an advanced move. For most people, just not stopping is enough. At Value Research, when we look back at long-term SIPs—10, 15, 20 years—the thing that stands out is not the “perfect entry” or “best fund”. It is this simple question: did the investor keep going through the ugly patches, or did they cut off the SIP just when it was doing its best work?So the next time the market is falling and you feel the itch to stop your SIP, remember this: the feeling is normal, the action is costly. Your SIP does not need you to be fearless. It just requires you to avoid one specific mistake—turning it off when it is finally buying things at a discount.If you really meant it when you said “long term”, don’t let a bad year scare you out of a good plan. Close the app, let the SIP run, and give your future self a chance to be pleasantly surprised.If you have any queries for Dhirendra Kumar you can drop us an email at: toi.business@timesinternet.in(Dhirendra Kumar is Founder and CEO of Value Research)

File photo: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi (Picture credit: PTI)

NEW DELHI: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Friday came out strongly in defence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing sections of the media and the BJP of misrepresenting an Election Commission-linked survey to undermine allegations of voter list manipulation.In a detailed post on X, the chief minister said an administrative survey conducted earlier this year was being selectively cited to suggest that concerns raised by Rahul Gandhi over electoral malpractice had been “disproved”, a claim he described as an attempt to ‘manufacture a misleading narrative’.

Siddaramaiah said the survey in question was not a political or opinion poll but an end-line evaluation carried out under the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme.Conducted in May 2025, the exercise was meant to assess voter awareness efforts, not to validate the integrity of elections or respond to allegations that surfaced months later. “An awareness survey cannot be twisted into a certificate of electoral integrity,” he wrote.He also pointed to the timing of the exercise, noting that Rahul Gandhi raised allegations of organised voter list manipulation, which the Congress has described as “Vote Chori”, only in August 2025. Using data collected before those allegations emerged to counter later claims was not fact-checking, he said, but a distortion of facts.The chief minister questioned the statistical weight being given to the findings, highlighting that the survey covered 5,100 respondents in a state with over 5.3 crore adult voters. That, he said, amounted to less than 0.01% of the electorate. “In constituencies like Bengaluru Central, where allegations of voter list manipulation are most acute, the respondent count runs into mere double digits. Projecting this as the definitive “people’s verdict” is statistically indefensible,” he wrote.Siddaramaiah further alleged a conflict of interest, stating that the survey was conducted by an NGO called GRAAM, founded by Dr R Balasubramaniam, who currently holds a Union government-appointed position and authored a book praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2024.He said this aspect had been ignored in much of the reporting.The chief minister also rejected claims that Rahul Gandhi was questioning democracy or the electoral process itself. He said the Congress leader had sought transparency on issues such as access to voter rolls, safeguards against surveillance, scrutiny of EVMs and the independence of the Election Commissioner appointment process, questions which he said remain unanswered.Referring to criminal investigations in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah cited the Aland case, where a police Special Investigation Team filed a 22,000-page chargesheet naming seven accused, including a former BJP MLA, for allegedly attempting to illegally delete nearly 6,000 genuine voters using OTP bypass technology. He said the probe was pursued by the Congress government despite winning the seat and led to systemic changes by the Election Commission.The controversy erupted after the BJP cited findings from a survey conducted across Karnataka to claim that a majority of respondents trust EVMs and believe elections in India are conducted freely and fairly. BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said Rahul Gandhi gets a “reality check” every time he raises questions after electoral defeats.Congress leaders have since questioned the credibility of the survey. As quoted by news agency ANI, Priyank Kharge and Supriya Shrinate flagged concerns over the timing, sample size and neutrality of the agency that conducted the exercise, arguing that it cannot be used to dismiss allegations backed by criminal investigations.Siddaramaiah concluded that a limited, pre-event administrative survey cannot override evidence, chargesheets or unresolved questions, calling it unfortunate that these facts were ignored in favour of what he termed a distorted narrative.

Since the start of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, India has been the largest buyer of discounted Russian seaborne oil. (AI image)

India is looking to seal a trade deal with the US and is monitoring weekly data on crude oil purchases from Russia and America, according to a Reuters report. Oil refiners have been asked to give details of crude purchases from Russia and the United States, the report added. The move comes as New Delhi works to advance trade negotiations with Washington and anticipates that imports of Russian crude could fall below one million barrels a day.The Donald Trump administration, which has been seeking to reduce its trade imbalance with India, last year raised tariffs on Indian goods to 50%, citing India’s substantial purchase of Russian oil. While New Delhi and Washington are in talks over a possible trade agreement, the discussions have faced periodic strains.

India Monitors Crude Oil Buys From Russia

Since the start of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, India has been the largest buyer of discounted Russian seaborne oil. However, this surge in purchases has drawn criticism from Western countries, which have imposed sanctions on Russia’s energy sector on the grounds that oil revenues are supporting Moscow’s war effort.Officials quoted in the report said that the government wants clear and reliable data to share with the United States. The Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell under the oil ministry has instructed refiners to report weekly figures for crude imports from Russia and the US.“We want timely and accurate data on Russian and US oil imports so that, when the US asks for information, we can provide verified figures instead of them relying on secondary sources,” a government official was quoted as saying by Reuters.Typically, the source of India’s crude imports is captured in monthly customs disclosures and by private data firms. The current request is the first instance of refiners being asked to submit such information on a weekly basis, the report added.Russian crude has emerged as a key sticking point in the complex trade negotiations between India and the United States. While several major economies have managed to reach agreements with Washington that eased the steep tariff levels initially imposed by US President Donald Trump, discussions with New Delhi have yet to yield a breakthrough.Talks broke down in late July after India pushed back against opening its agricultural markets to US products. Despite the setback of 50% tariffs, dialogue between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has continued and negotiations have since restarted. However, India’s continued purchases of Russian oil remain a major hurdle. Trump said in October that Modi had committed to ending imports of Russian crude, a claim New Delhi has publicly disputed, maintaining that supplies from Russia are critical to India’s energy needs.According to two government officials quoted by Reuters, refiners have not been formally directed to reduce their intake of Russian oil. Still, they and industry sources expect average imports to drop below one million barrels a day in the months ahead.Tighter sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union have already curbed Russian shipments to India. Data from analytics firm Kpler and industry sources show that inflows fell to around 1.2 million barrels per day in December, the lowest level in three years, representing about a 40 percent decline from a peak of roughly two million barrels a day in June.

ITC shares slid to a three-year low of Rs 345.35 on Friday, extending a sharp two-day selloff that has erased about 14% of the stock’s value after the finance ministry announced a steep increase in cigarette taxes, triggering widespread analyst downgrades and renewed concerns over volumes and profitability.The Nifty heavyweight fell another 5% on Friday, after plunging 10% on New Year’s Day, as at least six brokerages rushed to reassess the impact of what they described as an unprecedented tax shock on the company’s core cigarette business, according to ET.Effective February 1, cigarette taxes will rise by about 50%, forcing ITC to implement portfolio-level price hikes of at least 25% just to maintain current net realisation per stick, according to Motilal Oswal. The brokerage downgraded ITC from Buy to Neutral and cut its target price to Rs 400.“The magnitude of the tax increase is staggering,” analysts said, noting that to fully offset the levy, ITC may need to raise prices by as much as 40%, assuming no change in product mix.Jefferies, which downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold, warned that if the company passes on the full impact through price hikes, the effective tax burden could rise to nearly 70%, pushing tobacco taxes per stick from about 55% to 65% of the maximum retail price.“To offset the tax burden, ITC will need to implement substantial price increases. Assuming no mix change, ITC requires a 40% price hike just to pass on the impact,” Jefferies said, ET quoted.Motilal Oswal described the move as a surprise after several years of tax stability. “Such a sharp tax increase is unprecedented and has surprised us given the backdrop of stable taxes over the last few years,” the brokerage said, cutting its cigarette business valuation multiple to 14x December 2027 EV/EBITDA from 17x earlier.Brokerages also flagged historical parallels. Jefferies pointed out that during FY15–16, when ITC implemented mid-teen price hikes amid aggressive tax increases, cumulative cigarette volumes fell by over 15%. The ad valorem tax structure could worsen the impact, as higher prices feed back into higher taxes, analysts said.In recent years, stable taxation had supported cigarette volume growth of around 5% CAGR over five years, while the illicit cigarette market’s share declined by roughly 150 basis points, according to Motilal Oswal. Analysts now fear that this trend could reverse.“For ITC, which was seeing resilient cigarette volume growth in past few quarters, this levy has the effect of pushing possible catalysts (volume resilience and uptick in EBIT growth from 2HFY26E) further out,” JM Financial said, adding that concerns over illicit trade are likely to re-emerge.Some brokerages, however, see partial downside protection at current levels. Nuvama’s Abneesh Roy, who downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold, said he stopped short of a Reduce call, citing the company’s roughly 4% dividend yield with an 85% payout ratio.Roy also pointed to potential medium-term support from easing tobacco raw material costs in FY27, expected benefits to ITC’s foods portfolio from GST cuts, and a possible margin bottom-out in the paper business following the Century Paper acquisition.Even so, sentiment remains cautious. “Near-to-medium term upside now looks capped,” Jefferies said, warning that ITC shares could remain under pressure as the market digests the full impact of the tax increase.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market, other asset classes or personal finance management tips given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)

Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan won Delhi HC protection for his personality rights against Flipkart, Amazon, Meesho, Google, Meta, and others misusing his image, voice for sales and AI. Court bans unauthorized use; next hearings Feb 9 & May 12, 2026. Affected parties can seek relief.

Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan filed a petition in the Delhi High Court to protect his personality rights. The court recently stated that, per established laws and the evidence provided, his celebrity status gives him clear ownership over his personal image and features. Any use of these without permission violates those rights, states the report.

List of defendants

Among the defendants are Flipkart Internet Pvt. Ltd., Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd., Meesho Ltd., Google LLC, Meta Platforms Inc., and several unnamed parties or individuals said to be unlawfully and improperly exploiting Mr. Kalyan‘s personality, publicity, privacy rights, and related proprietary elements.

Details of misuse

As reported in The Hindu, according to the judge’s interim order, a few defendants profit by using Mr. Kalyan’s name, face, voice, and image to sell items, either themselves or on shopping apps. The others build his personal features into AI on their sites for business or sell stuff without asking him first.

Next hearing dates

The court has scheduled the case for hearing before the Joint Registrar (Judicial) on February 9 and before itself on May 12, 2026. The plaintiff must submit any extra documents by January 22, following the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, and the Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules, 2018.

Relief for affected parties

The judge permits websites or parties harmed by this order, who aren’t primary violators, to petition the court. They need to pledge against spreading unlawful content that harms the plaintiff’s personality rights. The court may then adjust the injunction according to the case details.Disclaimer: The information in this report is based on a legal hearing as reported by a third-party source. The details provided represent allegations made by the parties involved and are not proven facts. The case is ongoing, and a final verdict has not been reached. The publication does not claim that the allegations are true.

New supply of office space declined sharply in key property markets such as Delhi-NCR and Mumbai last year, even as demand for prime workspaces remained strong across India’s major cities, according to real estate consultant Colliers, PTI reported.Delhi-NCR saw a 15 per cent fall in new office supply in 2025, while Mumbai recorded a steeper decline of 37 per cent, Colliers India said, adding that office demand outstripped fresh supply across India’s top seven cities, leading to lower vacancy levels.Colliers data showed that new office supply in Delhi-NCR fell to 7.4 million sq ft in 2025 from 8.7 million sq ft in the previous year. Mumbai saw fresh supply decline to 5.2 million sq ft from 8.3 million sq ft a year earlier.Hyderabad also witnessed a drop, with new supply falling 21 per cent to 10.8 million sq ft from 13.7 million sq ft. In Kolkata, supply plunged 80 per cent to 0.1 million sq ft from 0.5 million sq ft in 2024.In contrast, Chennai, Bengaluru and Pune saw an improvement in new office completions. Bengaluru recorded a 15 per cent rise in fresh supply to 17.5 million sq ft from 15.2 million sq ft. Chennai more than doubled its new supply to 4.5 million sq ft from 2.1 million sq ft, while Pune saw a more than two-fold jump to 11 million sq ft from 5.3 million sq ft.Overall, the seven major office markets — Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata — witnessed a 5 per cent rise in new office supply to 56.5 million sq ft in 2025, compared with 53.8 million sq ft in the preceding year.Office leasing activity also remained strong, with total absorption rising 6 per cent to 71.5 million sq ft last year from 67.2 million sq ft in 2024.“With demand outpacing supply in recent times, overall vacancy levels fell by 49 basis points, while average rentals strengthened by up to 15 per cent YoY across major cities,” Colliers India said.Technology companies and the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector continued to be the key drivers of office demand, while foreign firms setting up Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in India further supported absorption of prime office spaces.Major developers active in the office segment include DLF Ltd, Prestige Estates, K Raheja Group, Embassy Group, Sattva Group and RMZ Group.India currently has four office asset-backed real estate investment trusts (REITs): Knowledge Realty Trust backed by Sattva Group and Blackstone, Mindspace Business Parks REIT sponsored by the K Raheja Group, Brookfield India Real Estate Trust and Embassy Office Parks REIT.Recently, Bengaluru-based Bagmane Group sponsored Bagmane Prime Office REIT filed draft papers with market regulator Sebi to raise up to Rs 4,000 crore through an initial public offering.REITs are investment vehicles that own or operate income-generating real estate, allowing investors to earn income without directly owning property.

Siddhartha Bhaiya (Photo credit- LinkedIn account)

Siddhartha Bhaiya, founder and managing director of Aequitas Investment Advisors and one of Dalal Street’s most closely followed stock pickers, passed away on December 31, 2025, following a sudden cardiac arrest while on a family vacation in New Zealand. He was 47, ET reported.“It is with profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of our Managing Director, Mr. Siddhartha Bhaiya, on 31 December 2025, following a sudden cardiac arrest,” Aequitas said in a statement.Bhaiya founded Aequitas in 2012 after leaving Nippon India Mutual Fund, where he had worked for nearly seven years as a fund manager. Over the next decade, he built the firm into a Rs 7,700-crore PMS and AIF platform, known for identifying smallcap and midcap companies at an early stage of their growth cycle.His flagship India Opportunities PMS Fund delivered a compounded annual growth rate of nearly 33% over 13 years, generating absolute returns of about 3,700%, making it one of the top-performing portfolio management strategies on Dalal Street, according to ET data.A chartered accountant by training, Bhaiya was widely regarded as a contrarian investor who combined value discipline with growth investing. He was known for avoiding crowded trades and for holding high levels of cash when market valuations appeared stretched. In 2025, his PMS was reported to be holding close to 80% cash for much of the year.“If anything, holding 80% cash is the easiest thing to do at this point of time. Given the valuations that the Indian smallcap is currently quoting at and the frenzy across investors about Indian capital markets, I don’t see any logic in being invested,” Bhaiya had told PMSBazaar in an interview cited by ET.In the last one to two years, he had become increasingly cautious on Indian equities, citing elevated valuations. At a public event last month, he described the prevailing market environment as a “bubble of epic proportions” rather than a sustainable bull phase.Reflecting this view, Aequitas had begun diversifying part of its portfolio into gold ETFs and overseas investments, reducing its dependence on Indian equities.“Siddhartha was the driving force behind Aequitas. He was not only a visionary investor, but also a builder of institutions — deeply committed to intellectual honesty, disciplined decision-making, and long-term thinking,” the firm said, adding that it remains aligned with his investment philosophy and long-term objectives.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt believes AI’s rapid advancement, already handling 10-20% of programming tasks, signals the end of traditional coding careers. He sees AI’s true economic power in automating corporate functions like billing and accounting, not just coding. Schmidt also predicts Artificial General Intelligence by 2029, urging human oversight to preserve agency.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt declared his own programming expertise obsolete after watching an AI system autonomously generate an entire software program, calling it a “profound” moment that signals the end of traditional coding careers. “Holy crap. The end of me,” Schmidt said during a forum at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum earlier this month. “I’ve been doing programming for 55 years. To see something start and end in front of your own life is really profound.”The tech veteran underlined the rapid development of AI from being a useful assistant to a possible replacement for qualified programmers. Schmidt revealed that at leading AI research facilities, like OpenAI and Anthropic, the AI system is already performing about 10 to 20 percent of the work in programming, adding that the said percentage will further increase at a very rapid rate.

AI’s real impact extends beyond replacing programmers, says ex-Google CEO

Even with that striking demonstration, Schmidt said that AI is underhyped rather than overhyped. In discussion with Professor Graham Allison, he emphasized that this is where AI’s real economic potential-exists: in automatically performing corporate operations, not just in coding.The real transformation is happening inside companies, where AI systems are taking over billing, accounting, product design, delivery, and inventory management, Schmidt explained. These routine processes consume billions in corporate spending, and automating them could fundamentally reshape business operations.“If anything, it’s under-hyped because you are fundamentally automating businesses,” he said. “There’s an awful lot there—it’s extraordinary.”

Eric Schmidt says artificial general intelligence may arrive by 2029

Schmidt predicted artificial general intelligence (AGI)—systems matching the smartest mathematicians, physicists, and artists—will arrive within three to five years. This timeline is driven by what he calls “recursive self-improvement,” where AI learns independently without human instruction.“The computers are now doing self-improvement. They’re learning how to plan, and they don’t have to listen to us anymore,” he warned at another recent event.However, Schmidt emphasized the need for human oversight as AI approaches these capabilities. “Somebody’s going to have to raise their hand and say, ‘We just went too far,'” he cautioned. “I think there’s no higher duty than to preserve human agency and human freedom.”The former Google executive suggested Wall Street is underestimating the magnitude of AI’s impact on business automation and scientific discovery, pointing to medicine, climate solutions, and engineering as sectors where automation could accelerate breakthroughs.