Investing Rs. 1,000 a Month in SBI Mutual Fund Turns Into Rs. 4 Crore Over 32 Years

SBI Long Term Equity Fund is an ELSS scheme from India’s largest fund house, earlier known as SBI Magnum Taxgain Scheme. This fund has been around for 32 years. It’s one of the oldest tax-saving equity funds in India and has a 3-year lock-in period along with tax benefits. If someone had invested Rs. 1,000 every month through an SIP in this fund, the value of their investment would be over Rs. 1.5 crore today.

The fund was established on March 31, 1993, with the IDCW Option, previously known as the Dividend Option. The Growth Option was introduced in the fund on May 7, 2007. The scheme follows the performance of the BSE 500 TRI index as its benchmark.

Since the scheme started before the benchmark index was introduced, there’s no benchmark performance available from the beginning. The scheme is now offered in two versions – Direct and Regular. Because the Direct plan only began in January 2013, the returns mentioned in this story are based on the Regular plan.

As of March 31, 2025, this scheme manages assets worth Rs. 27,730.33 crore. Dinesh Balachandran has been managing the fund since September 2016. The scheme invests over 90% of its money in stocks and related investments and up to 10% in short-term money market instruments.

As of April 3, 2025, the NAV (Net Asset Value) of the SBI Long-Term Equity Fund was Rs. 405.87. The regular plan has an expense ratio of 1.6%, while the direct plan has a lower expense ratio of 1.07%.

SBI Long Term Equity Fund SIP returns

If someone had invested Rs. 10,000 every month in this fund from the start until now, their investment would have grown to Rs. 14.44 crore by March 28, 2025. They would have invested a total of Rs. 38.5 lakh and earned a yearly average return (CAGR) of 17.94%. Based on this, even a monthly SIP of Rs. 1,000 would be worth Rs. 1.44 crore today.

This scheme has outperformed its benchmark (BSE 500 TRI) over different time periods:

• 3-year average annual return stood at 23.42% against the benchmark’s 13.89%
• 5-year average annual return stood at 24.31% against the benchmark’s 17.17%
• 10-year average annual return stood at 17.59% against the benchmark’s 15.14%
• 15-year average annual return stood at 16.03% against the benchmark’s 14.30%

D P Singh, Deputy Managing Director and Joint CEO of SBI Mutual Fund, said, “With a 32-year history, the SBI Long Term Equity Fund is still a good choice. It gives returns linked to the stock market and is suitable for people who want to build wealth over the long term.”

For whom is this SBI scheme suitable?

• SBI Long Term Equity Fund is a great choice for people who want to grow their money over the long term and also save on taxes. Under the old tax system, you can get a tax exemption of up to Rs. 1.5 lakh through this fund under Section 80C.

What to keep in mind before investing?

• This is a stock market-based fund, so it comes with some risk.
• Just because it gave good returns in the past doesn’t mean it will do the same in the future.
• Make sure to think about your financial goals and how much risk you’re comfortable with before investing.