‘Don’t Wait, Start Investing, Be Patient’: Sundeep Sikka Shares ‘Golden Rule To Wealth Creation’ | Image:
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New Delhi: Nippon Life India Asset Management Executive Director (ED) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sundeep Sikka on Friday noted that Indians are betting big on mutual funds since they now have confidence in the Indian growth story.
Speaking at the India Economic Summit 2025 hosted at Republic Media Network Headquarters in Noida, Sundeep Sikka noted a changing trend in the mutual fund industry. He stated that earlier, mutual fund investors were mainly from bigger cities. However, now there are investors from even small towns and cities. Stating that Nippon Life India Asset Management recently opened a branch in Leh, he said they are trying to get the culture of mutual funds in small cities.
“People will only invest if they have confidence in something. For decades after decades…after independence, people had confidence in bank deposit, they had confidence in gold and they invested in that. Today this is changing in India,” he added.
Investment Advice- ‘Don’t Wait’
Sundeep Sikka, in an advice to all investors, said, “Make the first step, start investing, don’t wait.”
“You have to take the first step and you have to be consistent, you have to be disciplined, you have to keep investing. It cannot happen that one day you invest and then you forget. And then when you see the markets going up, you encash and say ‘I’m done’.”
‘Never Get Carried Away With How Market Behaves’
Speaking about himself as an investor, Sikka said, “I only invested in mutual funds, but more importantly, I’ve never withdrawn any money from mutual fund because the logic is very simple. I think if I don’t need money, if I don’t want to time the market, I will keep investing for long term.”
He stated that he never got carried away with how the markets behave. “The reality is even I do not know how to time the market. So my advice to every investor will be don’t try to time the market, you’ll go wrong. Just be patient.”
Golden Rule To Wealth Creation
Sundeep Sikka also shared a “golden rule to wealth creation” at the Summit. He said, “Just stay invested for a long duration…don’t let your biases come into it.”
He noted that many times there are a lot of noise and market goes up, and during such scenarios, people wonder what to do. “Kya karna, kuch nahi karna, baithe raho bas. (Stay invested.)”
“Ignore whenever the market goes up or market goes down, ignore that, keep your emotions out.”
Active Or Passive ETFs?
On being asked his preference between passively managed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and actively-managed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), Sikka said, “As an asset management company, you need to provide both.”
“There are investors who like active, there are investors who like passive…There are times you keep changing, but there will be a core thing that can be done through active fund, there can also be a certain part which can run through passive. And we are no one to decide…We are a supermarket…We will offer everything,” he added.
He further stated that in the matured markets in the world, both passive and active ETFs have co-existed for decades.
The India Economic Summit 2025 is proudly presented by TVS Motor Company. This event is Co-Powered by Adani Group, and Nippon India Mutual Fund, and is held in association with Ravin Group, Bhutani Infra and ProstarM. The special partner for this summit is Engineers India Limited (EIL), and the state partner is the Haryana Government.
