The Rs 100 Investment Experiment — and What Happened When We Actually Tried It

Here is the conversation I wish someone had with me at 14.

Not: here is a complicated explanation of financial markets. Not: here is a 10-step plan you need to follow perfectly. Just: here is how to put Rs 100 into an actual investment right now, today, and watch what happens over the next year.

Because the most powerful thing about starting to invest is not the money. It's the education. The first time you invest, even a tiny amount, you will start paying attention to financial news differently. You will understand what the Sensex means. You will actually care about interest rates. The investment is almost a side effect.

Why Rs 100? Why not more?

Because Rs 100 is an amount where if it goes to zero, it's fine. You have learned something without it hurting. The point of starting small is to remove the fear barrier — to prove to yourself that investing is not complicated and does not require large amounts of money.

Once you have done it once, doing it again is easy. And doing it consistently — Rs 500 a month, Rs 1,000 a month, whatever you can actually commit to — is what actually builds wealth over time.

The three ways to invest a small amount in India

Option 1: A mutual fund SIP through Groww or Kuvera. Both apps are free, SEBI-regulated, and allow SIPs starting at Rs 100 per month. You can set up a Nifty 50 index fund — the simplest, lowest-cost way to invest in India's 50 largest companies. If you are under 18, you need a parent to open the account with you as a minor.

Option 2: A Recurring Deposit at your bank. Not technically an investment in the stock market, but an RD gives you a fixed interest rate and builds the habit of setting aside money consistently. Banks like SBI, HDFC, and ICICI allow RDs from Rs 100 per month.

Option 3: A Sovereign Gold Bond. The government issues these periodically and they allow you to invest in gold without physically buying it. The minimum is 1 gram of gold — roughly Rs 6,000-7,000 at current rates, so this one's for when you have slightly more to work with.

For most people starting out: a Nifty 50 index fund SIP through Groww is the simplest path with the highest long-term potential.

The exact steps to start a SIP on Groww

Download the Groww app. Create an account (if under 18, with a parent as guardian). Complete KYC with Aadhaar and PAN. Search for 'Nifty 50 index fund' and choose one with a low expense ratio — look for anything below 0.2%. Click 'Start SIP'. Set the amount to Rs 100 or Rs 500. Set the date to two days after your pocket money or salary arrives. Confirm.

That's it. The SIP will now run automatically every month. You do not need to do anything else except not cancel it.

What to expect — honestly

In the short term: your investment will fluctuate. Some months it will be worth slightly more than you put in. Some months it will be worth slightly less. This is completely normal and is not a reason to stop.

In the medium term (3-5 years): you will start to see meaningful growth, especially if the market has had a good period. But markets go through cycles, and there will be periods where your portfolio looks red. Still not a reason to stop.

In the long term (10-20 years): this is where compound growth does something genuinely remarkable. Rs 500 a month for 20 years at 12% annual return becomes approximately Rs 4.9 lakh from a total investment of Rs 1.2 lakh. The difference — Rs 3.7 lakh — is entirely growth.

The single most important variable in investing is not how much you invest. It is how early you start. Every year you wait costs you real money — money that time would have generated for you.

The experiment

Here is the challenge: set up one investment this month. Any amount. Rs 100 if that's what you have. Screenshot the confirmation. Come back to this post in three months and tell us what happened.

We genuinely want to hear. Drop it in the comments — what you invested in, how much, and what you noticed about yourself once you'd done it.

— Anaya Deshmukh, Daughters of India