Investors looking to put money in mid-cap funds through Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) and do not want to risk losing capital might need a minimum time frame of eight years, if past data are to go by. A study by asset valuation analytics firm Valuemetrics Technologies on monthly rolling returns for SIPs between April 2005 and March 2025 in the Nifty Midcap 150 Total Returns Index showed such investments made for three and five years have incurred losses (see table).