Short-term pain, long-term gain: what the numbers say

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.If your equity portfolio is hurting this quarter, you’re not alone.Indian equities have had a bruising start to 2026. As of 31 March, the Nifty 50 is down 14.5% year-to-date, the Nifty 500 about 14%, and mid- and small-cap indices have fallen 13-14% in just three months. By any short-term measure, this has been a sharp correction.Step back, though, and the picture looks very different.

The Nifty 50 is still up 52%. The Nifty Midcap 100 has gained 118%, and the Smallcap 100 about 88%. A ₹10 lakh investment in midcaps five years ago would be worth roughly ₹21.8 lakh today, even after the recent fall.

The current drawdown is painful, but it hasn’t erased wealth; it has compressed valuations.The nature of the decline also matters. Over a single week, major indices fell within a narrow 2.1-2.7% band; over a month, losses ranged from 10.3% to 13.5%. When everything moves in lockstep, it usually isn’t about stock picking.

This is macro, global risk-off sentiment, sustained foreign institutional selling, and a broad repricing of growth expectations. There was little place to hide.That longer lens also reframes the global picture. On a one-year view, global markets still look stronger in local currency terms: Japan’s Nikkei 225 is up 43.1%, the FTSE 100 17.8%, and the S&P 500 16.3%.

India, by comparison, appears to lag. But that snapshot misses the turn now underway. In March alone, the Nikkei fell 13.2%, the S&P 500 dropped 5.1%, and the FTSE declined 5.6%.

India’s correction began earlier; global markets are only now catching up.Over five years, India still leads. The Midcap 100’s 118% return outpaces the Nikkei (75%), the S&P 500 (64%), and the FTSE (51%). By that measure, Indian mid- and