How SBI CONTRA FUND survived The 2018 NBFC Crisis
IL&FS defaulted and India's shadow-banking system seized up. While the Sensex fell a modest 14%, mid- and small-cap funds crashed 25-40% — the crash that taught a generation the difference between index pain and portfolio pain.
The fall
-15%
31 Aug 2018 → 9 Oct 2018
Index fell
-14%
Sensex, peak to trough
Recovery time
25 mo
peak regained 17 Nov 2020
₹1L at the peak → today
₹3,24,958
worst-possible timing, held on
The full round trip
NAV from 1 Aug 2018 to 17 Nov 2020 — peak ₹115.6916, bottom ₹98.3292, peak regained 17 Nov 2020.
The ₹1 lakh stress test — invested at the worst possible moment
| Invested at the pre-crash peak (31 Aug 2018) | ₹1,00,000 |
| Value at the bottom (9 Oct 2018) | ₹84,993 |
| Value one year after the peak | ₹82,051 |
| Value today (3 Jul 2026) | ₹3,24,958 |
The lesson isn't that crashes don't hurt — it's that selling at the bottom turns a temporary fall into a permanent loss. The investor who bought at the absolute worst day and simply held is in profit today.
The unluckiest SIP experiment
Imagine starting a ₹10,000/month SIP on the exact peak day — the single unluckiest start date possible — and continuing for 24 months straight through the crash:
Invested
₹2,40,000
Worth today
₹9,06,745
Return
+278%
Crash-month installments bought units cheap — that's the whole SIP thesis, demonstrated with real data instead of a brochure.
This fund in other crashes
Other Value / Contra funds in this crash
All figures computed from published AMFI NAV history for SBI CONTRA FUND. Past performance — including past recoveries — does not guarantee future results. This is educational research, not investment advice. Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks.