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Crash case study · real NAV data

How quant Small Cap 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

-13.3%

19 Dec 201818 Feb 2019

Index fell

-14%

Sensex, peak to trough

Recovery time

18 mo

peak regained 10 Aug 2020

₹1L at the peak → today

₹5,46,393

worst-possible timing, held on

The full round trip

NAV from 1 Aug 2018 to 10 Aug 2020 — peak ₹53.1003, bottom ₹46.0576, peak regained 10 Aug 2020.

The ₹1 lakh stress test — invested at the worst possible moment

Invested at the pre-crash peak (19 Dec 2018)₹1,00,000
Value at the bottom (18 Feb 2019)₹86,737
Value one year after the peak₹74,104
Value today (1 Sept 2026)₹5,46,393

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

₹15,88,266

Return

+562%

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

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How this page is produced

Every figure above is computed from our archive of published AMFI NAV history for quant Small Cap Fund, to NAV dated 1 Sept 2026. Nothing here is copied from a factsheet or a third-party summary. The full method is published, including its limitations.

Drawdown, recovery and rebound figures are measured from the fund's own NAV series across the event window — not from a factsheet summary. Past performance, including past recoveries, does not guarantee future results.

Written and maintained by Azad Mohammed, who built the pipeline these numbers come out of. Found an error? Tell us — corrections are made and the page rebuilds within the hour.

This page describes what each fund has done. It is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell any scheme. Arthkar is not a SEBI-registered investment adviser and does not provide or arrange investment advice. Mutual fund investments are subject to market risk; read all scheme related documents carefully.