VEDKUBER / ACADEMY / INVESTING BASICS

The Long-Term Power of the Market and Indian Taxes

SENSEX's Long Journey

Since its creation, the SENSEX has grown enormously over many decades, despite living through wars, recessions, crashes, and crises along the way. This is the essential lesson of long-term investing: markets go through ups and downs in the short term, but historically, patient long-term investors in a growing economy have generally been rewarded, even though every individual company's story can differ, and past performance never guarantees future results.

Why Does This Happen?

As India's economy grows — more companies, more consumers, more production, more digital adoption — the combined value of Indian businesses tends to grow with it over long periods, even though any single year, month, or week can be volatile or negative.

Short-Term Noise vs Long-Term Trend

Day-to-day, prices can swing due to news, global events, or simple mood swings of buyers and sellers. But zoomed out over 10, 15, 20 years, these short-term swings tend to matter far less than the overall direction of economic growth.

Check your understanding

  1. What has been the general historical pattern of the SENSEX over many decades, despite short-term crashes?
  2. What is STT in Indian stock markets?
  3. What generally separates short-term capital gains from long-term capital gains on shares?

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