SIP vs Lump sum investment

The empirical evidence in India suggests that the returns from a SIP stabilize around the underlying asset's long term average return.

I analyzed the Nifty50 data from 01 January 2001 to 01 November 2025. I assumed various investors invested a fixed amount at beginning of each month for a tenure of 299 months (25yrs), 240 months (20yrs), 180months (15yrs), 120 months (10yrs), 60 months (5yrs) and 36 months (3yrs). Actual Nifty50 data (closing price on first day of each month) was taken for the sake of convenience, assuming dividend yield cancelled the fund management charges and tracking error (for ETF investors) and brokerages and impact cost for direct equity investors.

The analysis indicates that an SIP in Nifty50 started to outperform the Nifty50 index return only after 7 yrs. The outperformance peaked around 180 months (15yrs) and started to decline. For 20 yrs tenure, Nifty50 monthly SIP returns (CAGR) is almost same as the change in Nifty50. For 25 yrs tenure, SIP returns outperformed marginally.

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We can look at this picture from various angles. For example—

·         In case of passive funds or benchmark investing, investors who have funds readily available, and want to assess whether to invest lump sum or take an SIP route, investing lump sum might be a better idea. However, for investors who do not have funds readily available but have regular cash inflows, SIP is a good option, instead of accumulating funds and trying to time the market.

·         In case of active funds, performance of SIP would largely depend on the quality of the fund management team. A good team which is able to assess the macro and market trends well in advance and position the fund accordingly, is more likely to outperform the peers. However, over a longer period, the answer to ‘SIP vs Lump Sum’ question would remain the same as in the case of passive funds

·         Passive funds may be a better option for a Goal based investment (education, asset purchase, marriage, travel, retirement planning, etc.), as the performance of these funds is less volatile. For wealth creation, investment in active funds may be more rewarding.

Conclusion

Timing the market may not yield any significant outperformance. If you have funds, invest today, if you have flows, do an SIP.

Benchmarks (e.g., Nifty50) yield normal returns (usually a small premium to the nominal GDP growth of the country) over a longer period. For the past 25 years, Nifty50 CAGR has been in the range of 12-14%. Investors should accordingly adjust their expectations. The SIP returns in passive funds (portfolios) mirroring the benchmark are marginally higher only if the investment is continued for a long period (7 yrs or more).

Diversified funds (and portfolios) have historically outperformed the benchmark indices. However, the outperformance depends on the quality of the fund management team. It is therefore important to select the funds prudently, and not just based on their recent performance. IN this the role of investment advisor is critical.

SIP lessons from traditional wisdom

India is entering the final stretch of the festive season. The symbolic victory of light over darkness is behind us; the wedding calendar is in full flow; preparations for Christmas and the New Year have begun. Financial markets, too, seem to have moved past a despondent summer, supported by improving global liquidity, softer inflation prints, and resilient domestic earnings.

This period also offers a moment for reflection. Every year, I revisit the legend of Rāma as narrated by Goswami Tulsidas in the Ramcharit Manas—not as mythology, but as behavioural wisdom. Hidden in its verses are principles that map surprisingly well to the discipline of Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs), especially for household investors.

The two lessons below may be familiar to regular readers, but they remain worth revisiting.

When to start SIP and how long to continue it

सम प्रकास तम पाख दुहुँ नाम भेद बिधि कीन्ह।
ससि सोषक पोषक समुझि जग जस अपजस दीन्ह।।

Tulsidas reminds us that light and darkness are equal in the waxing (Shukla Paksha) and waning (Krishna Paksha) phases of the moon. Yet society attaches meaning to these phases—one perceived as auspicious, the other as inauspicious.

Market cycles follow a similar rhythm. Prices rise, correct, consolidate and rise again—rarely in a straight line. Over long enough horizons, cycles compress into a trend; but in the short term, their emotional impact can be disproportionate.

For SIP investors, these oscillations are not an obstacle; they are the mechanism through which rupee-cost averaging works.

Your average purchase price eventually reflects both rising and falling markets, much like the moonlight that appears different despite being inherently balanced.

The key is simple:

·         Start early, because more cycles mean more averaging.

·         Continue consistently, because interruptions dilute the benefit.

·         Welcome temporary declines, as they lower long-term acquisition cost.

Where to do SIP

Investors often ask which asset is best suited for SIPs: an index fund, an ETF, or a diversified combination of large-cap, flexicap, midcap and small-cap strategies.

Tulsidas offers two metaphors that shed light on this question.

गगन चढ़इ रज पवन प्रसंगा।
कीचहिं मिलइ नीच जल संगा।।

A dust particle, when lifted by gentle winds, rises to the sky. The same particle, when carried by dirty, downward-flowing water, turns into filth.

सुरसरि जल कृत बारुनि जाना।
कबहुँ न संत करहिं तेहि पाना।।

Even when sacred water (Ganga Jal) is mixed with intoxicants, the wise refrain from consuming it.

These verses translate into two practical investment rules:

(a)   Choose Progressive Assets, Not Downward Currents

SIP behaviour works best with assets that possess:

·         sustainable cash flows,

·         sensible valuations,

·         healthy balance sheets, and

·         a structural growth runway.

Think of these as gentle winds. They may not deliver bursts of abnormal returns, but they compound steadily.

Low-quality, high-volatility assets—narratives without fundamentals, over-leveraged businesses, momentum-driven pockets—are the downward currents. They may rise briefly but rarely sustain wealth creation across cycles.

(b)   The Asset Manager Matters as Much as the Asset

A fundamentally sound asset in the hands of an undisciplined or style-drifting fund manager can become a source of needless volatility.

SIP investors should look for:

·         consistency of process,

·         risk discipline,

·         reasonable portfolio turnover, and

·         alignment with mandate.

The Ramayana conveys in metaphor what markets teach through experience:

The discipline to continue and the discernment to choose the right companions.

For SIP investors, these are the two non-negotiable pillars.

Start early. Continue through cycles. Choose assets that behave like gentle winds and managers who keep them that way.

Everything else is noise.

 

Tomorrow, I shall share my views on how long a SIP should be planned and continued.

M7 + M2 that crushed Bihar’s opposition

Bihar assembly elections concluded last week with the incumbent NDA government registering an astounding victory, belying all expectations of anti-incumbency; a strong show by the opposition alliance (MGB); and a surprise by JSP (Jan Suraaj Party), floated by election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor. Almost every exit poll and ground report got Bihar 2025 spectacularly wrong. The NDA’s landslide was not a wave — it was an annihilation.

In my view, the result was a foregone conclusion for anyone who looked beyond Twitter trends and Tejashwi’s viral reels. Numerous independent forecasters, reporters and experts, who claimed to have spent weeks “on the ground”, completely failed to assess the likely outcome of the elections.

The opposition alliance completely lacked seriousness, strategy and resources; notwithstanding the social media noise. The new challenger JSP lacked resources and credibility (was mostly seen as a BJP agent put up to cut into opposition votes). They were no match for the massive deployment of M7 (Meticulous planning, Men, Machine, Media, Money, Mandir and Modi) Force by the incumbent NDA. Besides, they managed the most relevant M2 (Muslim and Mahila) extremely well through tactically supporting AIMIM and offering cash to women, just ahead of elections. More than 100 MPs of BJP spent weeks campaigning in the hinterland. Several of the Chief Ministers of BJP ruled states held dozens of rallies across the state. NDA had appointed multiple booth agents several weeks in advance.

The opposition leaders, Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav mostly resorted to gimmicks; and “hoped” for anti-incumbency to work in their favor. They could neither adequately highlight the failures of the incumbent Chief Minister (almost 20 years), nor present a coherent and credible agenda for development.

After this headline comment, I would like to share some of my impressions about Bihar, made during a short visit to the state.

·         The socio-economic milieu of Bihar is uncannily similar to the broader picture of India. For example, most educated youth are eager to migrate out of the state - NCR, Bengaluru and Mumbai being the most coveted destinations, just like the educated youth from “developed” states look to immigrate overseas. Most rich people have invested in real estate and businesses outside the state, just like rich people from Delhi and Mumbai buying real estate in UAE, Portugal, and UK etc. Most aspire to send their children to study in schools and colleges outside the state, just like people in other states aspire a “foreign degree” for their wards.

·         Migrated Biharis, who are well settled in other states make references to the rich culture, heritage and resource pool of Bihar, in the same manner as NRIs settled overseas, with no intent to return, invest or otherwise contribute to their cherished homeland.

·         Election in Bihar is a distinct, stand-alone spectacle event, totally disconnected from the regular life of the local populace. Most treat it like a once in five-year village fair, where artists from outside come and perform. They get a chance to feast and enjoy dance performances. In the end they vote for the best orchestra performance, and return to their routine life.

·         A disturbing chunk of Bihar’s wildly popular Bhojpuri music, cinema and ‘orchestra’ programmes revolves around double-meaning lyrics, voyeuristic camera angles and incest-themed humor that would be cancelled in many other states. A noticeable section of Bihar’s youth—especially in semi-urban and rural pockets—consume a worrying volume of low-quality, hyper-sexualized Bhojpuri content, which shapes attitudes and aspirations in ways that deserve deeper study. In most village orchestra performances (election rallies, puja pandals, marriages etc.) that I witnessed, and in several popular Bhojpuri music videos I watched, this was a common theme. This section of youth may be susceptible to get trapped in a PIT (addiction to Porn, Incest and Tobacco).

·         Liquor ban has helped several households. Particularly, women in these households are grateful to the administration for saving their families. However, implementation of the prohibition policy is definitely not commendable. The cases of spurious liquor, smuggling from neighboring states, and corruption in enforcement are not uncommon.

·         The biggest paradox of Bihar is that it has one of the most aware populations (socially, culturally, politically, and economically); but only a few seem to be exercising their rights. You may find farmers who can quote Amartya Sen on entitlement failure but will not protest when their PMAY house is delayed by five years and a ₹50,000 bribe is demanded. They have accepted corruption, non-performance, apathy, and indifference of administration as a fait accompli. Rhetoric during the festival of elections apart, it is hard to find people raising voice for their rights.

·         Rural housing and rural roads have been the best performing government schemes in Bihar, though it is not uncommon to hear complaints of corruption in these two programs also. Collapsing bridges, stolen roads, schools, primary health centers, etc. in Bihar are all part of the social media folklore.

Overall, my impression is that Bihar today is India’s most politically sophisticated state trapped in an economically prehistoric age. Until private capital sees profit, until a real entrepreneurial class emerges from within (not just Delhi-returned IAS officers’ sons), and until Biharis start punishing non-performance instead of rewarding freebies and identity, progress might remain incremental, corrupt, and cruelly slow.

 

Towards a trust-based tax governance structure

Recently, NITI Aayog published a working paper titled “Towards India’s Tax Transformation: Decriminalization and Trust-Based Governance”. The paper is a follow up to the recent enactment of the Income Tax At 2025. It is an extremely important step for making the tax governance structure trust based.

The paper seeks to provide a comprehensive and critical analysis of the criminal provisions within the Income-tax Act, 2025, mapping the present extent of criminalization, documenting omissions and modifications, and recommending a trust-based regulatory transition for India’s direct tax regime.

Recognizing the evolving policy landscape which stresses ease of business, citizen-centricity, and the need to move away from “fear-based” enforcement, the paper evaluates each criminal provision through a principled criminal law-making framework rooted in jurisprudence, comparative regulatory best practices, and provides recommendations. Its central premise is that decriminalization, rationalization of punishments, and emphasis on proportionate sanctions will collectively align India’s income-tax law with the vision of a fair, accessible, and modern compliance regime.

Summary of the working paper

·         The paper argues that India’s direct tax regime historically over-criminalized even minor procedural defaults. The Income Tax Act 2025 reduces criminalization but still criminalizes 35 acts across 13 provisions.

·         Applying a principle based criminal law creation framework (harm, necessity, proportionality, intent, clarity), it proposes further decriminalization, removal of mandatory jail terms, restoring burden of proof to prosecution, clearer drafting, and periodic review.

·         It recommends prosecution should be reserved only for willful / fraudulent / significant harm behaviors. All else must be a civil penalty domain.

Strong points

The paper correctly identifies the problem of reverse burden of proof in ITA 2025.

Appropriately flags the disproportionate penalty design relative to the BNS

Correct categorization: obstruction / evasion / payment failure / public servant breach

For the first time a government working paper explicitly shifts “normative anchor” from “enforcement” to “trust”. To this extent there is a paradigm shift.

Gaps

Economic modelling absent: The paper doesn’t quantify fiscal impact of decriminalization vs retaining criminal penalty for 6 core offences. This would be a critical input for developing a policy consensus amongst various organs of the policy ecosystem.

Operational tradeoffs not analyzed: CBDT has historically used criminal threat to solve compliance capacity problem — paper assumes that trust-based regime reduces admin cost but does not model enforcement substitution cost.

Digital rights section inadequate: The section on access to passwords / virtual digital space rightly flags constitutional risk, but it does not propose a constitutional safe harbour architecture. Merely stating risk is not sufficient policy, in my view.

No sunset architecture: The Paper proposes periodic legislative review but does not create an actually enforceable review mechanism (eg automatic expiry unless reviewed).

No tiering by taxpayer class: The compliance behavior of various entities - MSME, gig, self-employed, salaried - is structurally different. A single criminalization framework may not be optimal.

No distinction between pre-assessment vs post-assessment domain: Anecdotally, most criminal threats in India are misused in pre-assessment stage. That is where maximum fear is. Paper doesn’t solve this location of harm.

Suggestions

Policy Design Enhancements

·         Create a mandatory 3 tier compliance framework

Tier 1 → civil / monetary

Tier 2 → administrative sanctions (suspension of benefits, loss of fast track processing eligibility)

Tier 3 → criminal only for fraud / fabrication / concealment > threshold

·         Make fraud the only anchor for criminal prosecution — remove “willful” / “knowledge” from the criminal domain entirely.

·         Introduce statutory requirement of “loss to revenue proven / or reasonably demonstrable” as condition precedent for criminal prosecution.

·         Introduce decriminalization sunset — every 5 years offences auto lapse unless reconfirmed.

·         Create statutory economic impact statements for introduction or retention of each criminal offence (OECD style).

·         Shift burden of proof back to prosecution & codify it explicitly.

Digital Rights

·         Separate digital compelled access into national security statute not tax statute - create clear bright line: no compelled password disclosure for tax.

·         Any digital compelled access must require judicial pre-authorisation (not officer discretion).

Conclusion

This is one of the most important tax policy drafting direction papers in the last 20 years. However, there is a risk that this remains normative but NOT enforceable reform. If NITI fixes some missing parts and layers, especially in fiscal impact modelling and behavioral economics, this could become an illustrative reform for most emerging market governments.

The rise of experiential economy

In the past few months, I have observed the following trends in my socio-economic milieu (urban middle class). Research analysts might like to wait a little more to find investment themes in these trends. However, I do feel that these trends are strong and have the potential to capture a prominent space in the overall Indian consumption basket; be a meaningful source of revenue for the government; emerge as a notable source of incremental employment and pave the way for a deeper integration of the Indian economy into the global economy.

Concert economy

My daughters have attended three live performances of Indian artists, in India, in the past two months. Previously it was not more than one in a year, and that often overseas or foreign performers.

The global live music market, encompassing ticket sales, sponsorships, merchandising, and related revenues from concerts, festivals, and performances, is estimated at USD 38.58 billion in 2025. It is projected to grow 8-11% CAGR for the next 10 years.

The US, with an estimated market size of US$15bn (~39% market share) leads the live entertainment market. India's live music market is projected at USD 1.39 billion (₹11,600 crore) in 2025, up 15x from ~₹805 crore in 2024, but still much smaller than the peers like China, South Korea, Thailand etc. India represents ~3.6% of the global market. However, given the size of the Indian overall music market, the potential is huge. Some estimates forecast the Indian live performance market to grow at 17.6% CAGR for the next 10 year. This may also provide a much-needed boost to India’s lagging inbound tourism sector.

Carnival economy

Ganpati and Durga Puja (including Navratri and Ram Leela) have been very popular festivals in India for a long time. Marketers have exploited the popularity of these festivals to stimulate consumption demand. These festivals, at a bigger scale, are no longer limited to west India (Maharashtra & Gujarat) and East India (Bengal & Odisha), respectively. Several small towns across Uttar Pradesh (UP), Madhya Pradesh (MP), Bihar etc. now celebrate these festivals with the same fervor and scale. Lots of marketing campaigns are run around these events to boost sales of real estate, consumer durables, tourism packages, jewelry, etc.

Besides, Ganpati & Durga Puja, Kumbh Mela, Chath Puja and Kanwad Yatra, are some other religious events that have acquired the scale and popularity to attract marketers’ attention.

Valentine's Day has been popular amongst college going youth for the past many decades. In earlier years the market impact of Valentine's Day was mostly limited to greeting cards and roses. However, in the past few years, the festival has expanded its scope and coverage. It is now becoming a full week of festivities, encompassing a larger section of the population (households, corporates, retailers, students, and event managers).

What I noticed this year was that Halloween is fast becoming as popular with Indian masses, as Valentine's Day. Many tier two towns in India organized special Halloween events with great enthusiasm. Schools, colleges, clubs, corporates, housing societies in Varanasi, Patna, Bareilly, Hathras, Agra, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Jodhpur, Chandigarh etc. celebrated Halloween in the same spirit as Holi.

I expect, the day is not far, when some of these events (or a new one) evolve as global events, and become as popular as Rio Carnival, New York Halloween or ThanksGiving parade, London Notting Hill Carnival, Munich Oktoberfest and Spain’s Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Conclusion

India’s new economy is shifting from goods consumption → experience consumption. The Indian middle-class transitions from “stuff accumulation” to “memory accumulation”.

This is the same transition Korea did 2002-2018; China did 2008-2019; and Japan did 1978-1990. The price of time + boredom premium is rising. That is the real structural marker of middle-class maturity.

This also can become one of the biggest levers to revive inbound tourism.

·         Brazil > carnival tourism

·         Korea > K-pop tourism

·         US > live performance + sports tourism

India can build its version next — with cultural depth as a natural advantage.

The new economy of India will not come from factories alone. It will come from stages, festivals, stadiums and streets. India’s next export will be experiences. IPL and Kumbha Mela have successfully demonstrated the global potential.

Experience GDP (concerts, festivals, events, experiential travel) has three properties India urgently needs, i.e.,

·         high employment intensity

·         high tax buoyancy

·         culture export multipliers

This is where India can gain a sustainable comparative advantage. Not copy trade Korea, but build the India version.

How to prepare for Hindenburg Omen

For the past two weeks my message inbox has been flooded with messages highlighting that recently “Hindenburg Omen Signal”, which preceded the 2008 and 2020 stock market crashes, has been triggered and a stock market collapse may be imminent. There are several other technical and strategy reports cautioning investors against an apparent bubble in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) related stocks.

Hindenburg Omen Signal: The Hindenburg omen is a technical indicator designed to signal the increased likelihood of a stock market crash. It compares the percentage of new 52-week highs and new 52-week lows in stock prices to a preset reference percentage (typically 2.2%) to predict the increasing likelihood of a market crash. The indicator is said to be suitable for about 30 days out, though it's been a false alarm more often than not in the past decade. Four criteria must be met to signal a Hindenburg omen:

·         The daily number of new 52-week highs and 52-week lows in a stock market index exceeds a threshold amount (typically set at 2.2%).

·         The 52-week highs can't be more than twice the 52-week lows.

·         The stock market index is still in an uptrend. A 10-week moving average or the 50-day rate of change indicator is used for this.

·         The McClellan oscillator (MCO), a measure of the shift in market sentiment, is negative.

How to think about the new Hindenburg Omen narrative

A common problem with the popular market discourse is that every meme indicator that worked once… becomes religion forever.

Hindenburg Omen is just a market breadth anomaly flag that is used to indicate stress emergence — not crash certainty.

Historically, some major crashes were indeed preceded by such a signal. However, false signals have massively outnumbered true signals. The probability distribution is not deterministic. Actually, it is more of a trend change watchlist input — not a trading instruction.

The more important debate now is actually different

The more important debate in my view is “Are AI stocks a bubble or are they discounting the future correctly?”

AI is now the most consequential capital allocation variable in the world — influencing geopolitics, capex, energy security, employment, corporate strategy, national strategy.

But here is the inconvenient fact for India:

·         India has no pure-play AI company.

·         This is not our NVIDIA moment.

·         This is not our TSMC moment.

·         This is not our Google / Meta / Tesla moment.

Our listed exposure is basically:

IT services riding implementation side revenue + consulting banks / logistics / enterprises consuming AI to enhance productivity So in India the AI debate is limited to “IT attrition, pricing, margins”. That is not the real debate in global markets.

The core portfolio question:

In my view the correct frame of reference for Indian investors is – “If global AI bubble were to correct — does India outperform or not?

Indian investors therefore may be better evaluating:

·         October saw FII flows turn positive and several respected global strategists are talking India long duration bull. Is this early 2026 positioning?

·         Have Indian valuations reached the band where global capital actually prefers to hide in India if US/AI corrects?

·         If there is a global risk off — does India fall with them and rebound faster (like 2008-09)… or does India do better in BOTH the fall and the rise?

In my view, instead of predicting market crashes, and consequently taking rash decisions, we would be better off by building antifragile portfolio architecture. For example-

·         Distinguishing between narrative premium vs earnings premium

·         Reducing leverage dependence for performance

·         Moving portfolio factor weights slightly more toward compounding engines, less to short-term momentum chasers

·         Using corrections to accumulate structural compounding themes, e.g., manufacturing formalization, infra development, energy security & efficiency, domestic financial deepening and up-trading in consumption.

Conclusion

Hindenburg Omen is useful… not because it predicts a crash — but because it forces you to re-test the strength of your portfolio design under adverse breadth conditions.

It is not important to forecast whether India will underperform or outperform the global markets. The important thing is to not panic trade technical omen memes — and instead use signals like this to calmly strengthen the probability of multi-year compounding.

Vanity over work

A few months ago, two reputable Indian corporate leaders opined that Indian youth should work harder and longer. Their opinion triggered an intense debate on social media, about the need for work-life balance and how Indian businesses neglect this important aspect of social-economic development.

In this context, it is pertinent to note the outcome of the latest “The Time Use Survey (TUS) 2024, conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO)”. The survey highlights that these corporate leaders were speaking from their vast experience, and the critics are perhaps oblivious of the ground realities.

The Time Use Survey (TUS) 2024 provides a detailed picture of how Indians allocate their 24 hours among different types of activities. The primary objective of the survey is to measure unpaid work, gender participation, and time distribution between paid, unpaid, and personal activities to make an informed assessment of labour participation, care work, and alignment with sustainable development goals (SGD) of Gender Equality a Decent Work.

The key findings of the survey are listed below:

Average Daily Time Allocation (All Persons, 6+ years)

·         Personal care and self-maintenance: ~11 hours/day

·         Employment and related activities: ~3 hours/day (urban > rural)

·         Unpaid domestic and care work: ~4.5 hours/day

·         Learning, social, leisure, and community activities: ~5.5 hours/day

Gender Differentials

Men: Spend ~6 hours/day in paid work and only ~1 hour in unpaid household work.

Women: Spend ~1.5 hours/day in paid work and ~6.5 hours in unpaid domestic and care work.

Women’s contribution to unpaid work remains three to four times that of men.

Time spent in employment is higher in urban males; unpaid household work dominates female time use, particularly in rural areas.

Rural–Urban Patterns

Rural workers devote more time to primary and secondary activities like agriculture and livestock.

Urban individuals spend more time in education, paid employment, and social/leisure activities.

Time in unpaid household and care work is higher in rural areas due to limited infrastructure and service access.

Age-Wise Patterns

·         Children (6–14 years): Primarily engaged in learning and play.

·         Youth (15–29 years): More time on education and job search.

·         Adults (30–59 years): Highest participation in paid and unpaid work.

·         Elderly (60+ years): More time on personal care, social, and community activities.

There has been no material difference in the past five years (2019-2024) in the pattern of time spent on employment

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Unpaid Work and Care Economy

·         The unpaid work economy remains female-driven, accounting for nearly 80% of total unpaid care hours in India.

·         Recognition of this work is vital for valuing women’s economic contribution and designing gender-sensitive policies.

Comparisons with 2019 Time Use Survey

·         Slight increase in paid work time for both genders, especially in urban areas.

·         Unpaid work hours for women show marginal decline but remain substantial.

·         Use of digital and online activities increased, especially for education and entertainment.

·         Improved participation in community and volunteer work post-pandemic.

Some interesting findings of the survey are:

·         Male commuters (for employment related activities) in the age group 15–59 years, spent 77 minutes on average in a day in commuting compared to 67 minutes spent by their female counterparts.

·         Children in the age group 6–14 years, spent 61 minutes in extracurricular activities while participating in such activities. Younger participants in the age group 15–29 years spent 74 minutes in a day on an average in extracurricular activities.

·         About 14.8% male and 3.9% females in the age group 15–29 years participated in sports and exercise activities during a day spending 64 minutes and 46 minutes respectively on an average. Children aged 6–14 years participating in sports and exercise activities spent an average of 83 minutes and 68 minutes in rural and urban areas respectively.

·         87.4% of younger people in the age group 15–29 years in urban areas and 73.4% in rural areas reported to have used mass media in a day. They spent 126 minutes and 116 minutes respectively in using mass media.

·         People aged 6 years and above spent about 89 minutes in a day while taking care of their dependent adult household members. Male participants spent 85 minutes while female participants spent 91 minutes on an average in such caring activities.

·         Rural people aged 6 years and above, spent about 123 minutes in a day in socializing and communication compared to 110 minutes spent by their urban counterparts. Male participants spent 121 minutes in a day compared to 117 minutes spent by female participants.

·         About 71.6% of rural children and 68.8% of urban children aged 6–14 years reported to have participated in learning activities related to formal education in the reference day, spending about 312 minutes in a day in each of the categories. Younger participants (aged 15–29 years) in learning activities related to formal education spent around 308 minutes in a day on average.

·         76.3% females participated in activities of food and meals management and preparation, spending about 209 minutes in the day. Male participation in such activity was 6.2% spending about 87 minutes in a day.

·         Activities related to childcare and instruction for one's own household in the reference day were reported by 32.8% females and 17% males. Time spent by the participants in such activities was 136 minutes and 73 minutes for females and male respectively.