No Goal Investing Update: Month 8 – September 2025
The market flirted with happiness this month—only to forget why it was smiling in the first place. We are back to where we were at the end of May 2025, and we have been there for quite some time now. This month it felt like that Mr. Market has finally thought enough is enough, but then lost steam.
So, as far as the index levels are concerned we are where we were at the end of last month. A glance at the news cycle makes it easy to see why this mood swing occurred. The market had reacted positively to the announcement of the new GST rules. If not euphoria, it was still optimism. And then, the eternal newsmaker struck again. First, Mr. Trump proclaimed that H1-B visas weren’t working for America and vowed a complete overhaul—tossing out figures like $100,000 annual fees on the visa, regardless of current visa status. A few friends in the US shelved their Diwali travel plans. Then came the clarification—only new visas would be affected. Still, the damage was done. Indian IT stocks, already grappling with AI disruption, took a hit.
Next came Trumponomics’ strike on Pharma: a proposed 100% tariff. Even though Indian generics seem exempt on closer inspection, the market took fright
Mr. Market, as always, is moody and melodramatic. What you see in the chart below is less analysis, more an emotional reaction to whatever is going on halfway across the world.
This article at Mint, lists five reasons for a selloff on Friday, 26th September. The first three are to do with US actions, the fourth is to do with FPIs and only the fifth is about the domestic market.
In any case, if you are in this for the long run then a long run it should be. All the data in this post is from the 26th September.
The update –
The market is essentially at the same level where it was when I updated for the last month. As planned, Indu, Muthu and Shekhar invested additional INR 20000 this month.
Indu’s portfolio (The index fan) –
| Mutual Fund Scheme | Existing Units | New Investment | NAV | New Units | Total Units | Value |
| ICICI Pru Nifty 100 ETF | 8915.834 | 20000 | 28.15 | 710.480 | 9626.314 | 270980.74 |
| Invested Amount | 260000 |
| Current Value | 270980.7 |
Muthu’s portfolio (the mutual funds sahi hai guy) –
| Sr No | Mutual Fund Scheme | Existing Units | New Investment | NAV | New Units | Total Units | Value |
| 1 | ICICI Large and Mid Cap fund | 50.955 | 4000 | 1000.75 | 3.997 | 54.952 | 54993.29 |
| 2 | HDFC Mid-cap Opportunities fund | 265.706 | 4000 | 190.59 | 20.987 | 286.693 | 54640.89 |
| 3 | Parag Parikh Flexi Cap fund | 593.385 | 4000 | 84.88 | 47.125 | 640.510 | 54366.49 |
| 4 | Nippon India Multi Cap fund | 173.181 | 4000 | 297.12 | 13.463 | 186.643 | 55455.43 |
| 5 | HDFC Small Cap fund | 370.409 | 4000 | 140.46 | 28.478 | 398.887 | 56027.63 |
| Invested Amount | 260000 |
| Current Value | 275483.7 |
Shekhar’s Portfolio (the stock picker) –
| Stock | Existing Shares | New Investment | Buy Price | New Shares | Total Shares | Value |
| Aarti Industries | 11.16 | 411.16 | 374.6 | 1.10 | 12.26 | 4593.465 |
| Aarti Pharma | 6.67 | 400.00 | 824.05 | 0.49 | 7.15 | 5895.367 |
| Asian Paints | 2.09 | 400.00 | 2342.8 | 0.17 | 2.26 | 5295.799 |
| Astral | 3.36 | 407.55 | 1373.8 | 0.30 | 3.65 | 5020.306 |
| Axis Bank | 4.62 | 400.00 | 1154 | 0.35 | 4.97 | 5733.487 |
| Bajaj Finance | 4.50 | 400.00 | 985.1 | 0.41 | 4.91 | 4832.95 |
| Bajaj Finserv | 2.57 | 400.00 | 2003.2 | 0.20 | 2.77 | 5553.72 |
| Bajaj Housing Finance | 41.96 | 400.00 | 110.43 | 3.62 | 45.58 | 5033.755 |
| Britannia | 0.92 | 400.00 | 5920.5 | 0.07 | 0.99 | 5876.331 |
| Chola Investment | 3.47 | 400.00 | 1569.9 | 0.25 | 3.73 | 5854.995 |
| Dabur | 9.52 | 400.00 | 499.75 | 0.80 | 10.32 | 5156.945 |
| Deepak Nitrite | 2.32 | 400.00 | 1848.4 | 0.22 | 2.53 | 4679.954 |
| Devyani International | 28.13 | 400.00 | 169.91 | 2.35 | 30.49 | 5180.045 |
| Divis Labs | 0.80 | 400.00 | 5689.5 | 0.07 | 0.87 | 4951.694 |
| DMART Avenue Supermart | 1.24 | 400.00 | 4517.8 | 0.09 | 1.33 | 5997.696 |
| Eicher | 0.90 | 400.00 | 7047 | 0.06 | 0.96 | 6760.149 |
| Garware Technical | 5.93 | 408.90 | 781.75 | 0.52 | 6.46 | 5048.247 |
| Havells | 3.13 | 400.00 | 1507.4 | 0.27 | 3.39 | 5112.047 |
| HCL Tech | 2.91 | 400.00 | 1395.3 | 0.29 | 3.19 | 4456.01 |
| HDFC Bank | 5.44 | 400.00 | 945.05 | 0.42 | 5.86 | 5538.262 |
| HUL | 2.04 | 400.00 | 2511.8 | 0.16 | 2.20 | 5531.237 |
| ICICI Bank | 3.67 | 440.32 | 1359.6 | 0.32 | 3.99 | 5423.924 |
| Indian Hotels | 6.23 | 400.00 | 709.8 | 0.56 | 6.79 | 4818.513 |
| Infosys | 2.87 | 400.00 | 1448.9 | 0.28 | 3.15 | 4563.942 |
| Jio Finance | 18.53 | 409.27 | 295.85 | 1.38 | 19.92 | 5892.69 |
| Kotak Mahindra Bank | 2.40 | 400.00 | 1994.8 | 0.20 | 2.60 | 5185.076 |
| L&T Technologies | 1.00 | 400.00 | 4058.9 | 0.10 | 1.10 | 4469.171 |
| LTI Mindtree | 0.90 | 400.00 | 5075 | 0.08 | 0.98 | 4963.903 |
| Mankind Pharma | 1.94 | 400.00 | 2482.9 | 0.16 | 2.10 | 5220.897 |
| Manyavar Vedant Fashions | 5.36 | 442.88 | 704 | 0.63 | 5.99 | 4216.053 |
| Metro Shoes | 4.13 | 400.00 | 1219 | 0.33 | 4.45 | 5429.814 |
| Muthoot Finance | 2.13 | 400.00 | 3020.3 | 0.13 | 2.26 | 6839.71 |
| Naukri Info Edge | 3.29 | 411.83 | 1316.2 | 0.31 | 3.60 | 4736.486 |
| Nestle | 4.23 | 400.00 | 1162.6 | 0.34 | 4.58 | 5319.811 |
| Nykaa | 26.33 | 400.00 | 230.62 | 1.73 | 28.07 | 6472.374 |
| Page Industries | 0.11 | 415.79 | 41240 | 0.01 | 0.12 | 4756.8 |
| PayTM | 5.58 | 400.00 | 1125.2 | 0.36 | 5.94 | 6680.565 |
| Pidilite | 3.32 | 416.62 | 1474.8 | 0.28 | 3.61 | 5319.12 |
| Reliance | 3.68 | 420.23 | 1377.6 | 0.31 | 3.98 | 5486.722 |
| SRF | 1.73 | 400.00 | 2806.9 | 0.14 | 1.87 | 5259.151 |
| Tata Consumer | 4.63 | 400.00 | 1119 | 0.36 | 4.99 | 5581.988 |
| Tata Elxsi | 0.80 | 400.00 | 5303 | 0.08 | 0.87 | 4639.652 |
| Tata Motors | 6.80 | 400.00 | 672.9 | 0.59 | 7.40 | 4978.4 |
| TCS | 1.31 | 400.00 | 2899.1 | 0.14 | 1.44 | 4184.94 |
| Titan | 1.41 | 400.00 | 3327.3 | 0.12 | 1.53 | 5102.412 |
| Torrent Pharma | 1.47 | 400.00 | 3561 | 0.11 | 1.58 | 5635.077 |
| Trent | 0.89 | 400.00 | 4679 | 0.09 | 0.98 | 4574.831 |
| Tube Investments | 1.61 | 400.00 | 3129.1 | 0.13 | 1.74 | 5432.641 |
| Varun Beverages | 9.39 | 400.00 | 444.75 | 0.90 | 10.29 | 4576.389 |
| Zomato | 20.60 | 400.00 | 321 | 1.25 | 21.85 | 7013.421 |
*This month Pidilite issued bonus shares. The numbers and prices are updated for that. We had dividends coming in from Aarti Pharma, Astral, Garware Technical, ICICI Bank, Jio Finance, Manyavar, Naukri, Page, Pidilite and Reliance. We are assuming a reinvestment of the dividends in the same stocks.
| Invested Amount | 260000 |
| Current Value | 264876.9 |
Given that the market stayed flat over the month, the expectations from all three was that the overall holdings should also remain flat. If I am adding INR 20000, then my overall holdings should see a bump of INR 20K or thereabouts. And it follows that logic for Indu and Muthu. However, for Shekhar this has been a bad month. 11 out of his 50 stocks are from IT and Pharma and they underperformed heavily for this month. He still thinks that as it happens with all Trumpisms, this one will sort itself out in a couple of months. But this month has been a hit to his portfolio holdings.
The comparison and the graph
| Month | Indu | Muthu | Shekhar | Investment |
| Jan-25 | 100000 | 100000 | 100000 | 100000 |
| Feb-25 | 117247.7 | 115538.4 | 116557.2 | 120000 |
| Mar-25 | 142363.5 | 140184.6 | 138494.2 | 140000 |
| Apr-25 | 165366.2 | 162416 | 163500.4 | 160000 |
| May-25 | 192137 | 191789.2 | 189153.7 | 180000 |
| Jun-25 | 217175.4 | 217913.8 | 213219.9 | 200000 |
| Jul-25 | 232075.9 | 236487.7 | 228753.8 | 220000 |
| Aug-25 | 251337.4 | 255466.6 | 249173.3 | 240000 |
| Sep-25 | 270980.7 | 275483.7 | 264876.9 | 260000 |
Eight months in, the portfolios have mostly kept pace with one another, rising and dipping in tandem. But this month broke the rhythm. The gap between the best (Muthu) and the worst (Shekhar) has widened—an echo of how concentrated risks can bruise even the best intentions.
It’ll be interesting to see where this goes in the coming days and years.
Disclaimer: I hold all the stocks and mutual funds mentioned on this page in my personal portfolio.