This is a very common question and the answer is - “whenever you’re ready”. There is no ideal time of year/season/market condition to start investing in a mutual fund scheme through SIPs, as one of the primary benefits of SIP is the fact that they can minimize the negative impact of market forces over time. SIP investments can be started at any time with minimal risk, provided the scheme chosen is the right fit for the investor. Different schemes appeal to different investors and finding the right scheme for you is as important as the investment itself. For this, FundsIndia has a team of expert market analysts and award-winning investment advisors to help guide investments in the right direction.

The best time to invest in a SIP is as soon as you’ve found the best mutual fund scheme that fulfills all your requirements. Investing as early as possible in SIPs has proven to yield the best results.

How to make Payments into the SIP Mutual Fund scheme? How to Pay SIP Installments?

The most convenient and most popular way of paying SIP installments is via ECS - or Electronic Clearance Service - which is a digital standing order that is placed on your bank account. This standing order directs the bank to automatically transfer ‘Rs.x’ from your bank account to the Mutual Fund scheme. The ECS can be set up to automatically transfer money on a certain date - meaning that if you receive your salary on the 1st of the month, you can set up an ECS to directly debit Rs.x on the 5th of every month, thus establishing an SIP. The NACH - National Automated Clearing House system works in a similar and reportedly more efficient way. Direct Debit Mandate is another form of standing instruction with the bank and has the same effect.

Another convenient way of making SIP payments is to issue a number of post-dated cheques for the SIP amount. The number of cheques would be the same as the number of SIP installments due until maturity, and the date on the cheque would be the date the SIP installment is due.

Alternatively, you could log into your bank account online and manually make the payment on the SIP installment date every month.