From a ₹2,000 SIP to ₹35 Crore: How Neeraj Arora Built His Mutual Fund Portfolio
"People ask me how it felt when I made my first crore. I don't know. Ask me the date and I can't tell you. I don't know the date of my 10 crore either."
Neeraj Arora is a chartered accountant, educator, and personal finance voice. He says the mutual fund portfolio he holds with his wife is now around ₹34-35 crore. On the Accompany Akki podcast, he walked through how he built it, and why he thinks most people worry too much about hitting ₹1 crore.
What is the right way to grow from ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore?
Neeraj puts it in one line. "Invest as much as possible in the right mutual funds according to your goals."
He adds a warning: don't always pick the highest-return fund. Once your basics are sorted, his formula is simple. Keep your head down in your work, spend on essentials, save, and enjoy what's left. "If you do this consistently for 10-15 years, one crore, two crore, a lot of money can be made."
Why are people so fixated on ₹1 crore?
Partly it's an aspiration. It works like the 10,000 steps target in fitness, a round number that became a milestone. Partly it's the internet. Host Akash Kumar admitted that videos with "one crore" in the title perform very well, and he's made one himself. Neeraj's view is that a milestone helps you, but stressing over it doesn't.
How did Neeraj Arora start investing?
Later than you might expect. He qualified as a CA in 2010 and started teaching around 2011. Around July 2013 he opened Neeraj Arora Classes.
In September 2016, a bank noticed money building up in his account and signed him up for two SIPs of ₹2,000 a month each. By his own admission he knew very little about mutual funds then, despite his CA background.
Did he invest in direct stocks?
He tried and decided it wasn't for him. "I cannot invest time in searching for the best stocks, and selling them on time and buying them on time." So he looked for a way to let professionals handle it.
What was his investing approach from 2017 to 2019?
He learned about index funds in 2017 and invested heavily in them. Around the end of 2018 he started learning about actively managed funds. He kept his monthly SIPs small and put most of his money in through lump sums whenever he had surplus cash.
He calls 2016-2019 his four-year "graduation" in personal finance.
What did he do during the COVID crash?
He bought every day. He was on a family trip near Nainital in early March 2020, and each morning he bought as the market fell. He kept buying through 23 March, the day of the lockdown announcement. He calls COVID his "placement" after that four-year graduation.
Did a startup investment make him rich?
It helped, though not the way people assume. In 2021 a startup he'd invested in was bought by an Indian unicorn at a valuation of about ₹183 crore, giving him roughly 23x in about eighteen months. Because the gain was short-term, from an unlisted company, and taxed at his slab rate, he says his net gain was closer to 13x.
He used that money to buy a home and an office in Ahmedabad, not to invest in the market. Later startup investments of ₹2-5 lakh each all went to zero.
Why did he invest in real estate?
To diversify. He'd been against real estate for years, but his equity portfolio had grown so large that he felt too concentrated. He bought plots reluctantly, and says they're now up about 300% in two to three years, pointing to the recent Faridabad real estate rally.
If real estate did better, why does he still prefer mutual funds?
He gives three reasons: no hassle, liquidity, and ownership. "I want to be the owner of the best businesses of this world," he said, and mutual funds make that possible.
Why didn't his portfolio fall as much as the market?
The portfolio is diversified. It includes US investments, gold, and a sizeable allocation to arbitrage funds, which he says generally hold steady and earn around 6-7% a year. When the Nifty dropped from about 26,200 to around 24,000, he says his overall profits stayed roughly where they'd been at the peak.
Why does he share his portfolio publicly?
Because he teaches mutual funds. "If I'm teaching something, people should at least know what I've done in it." Beyond that, he says he rarely checks the number.
Key takeaways
You don't need to start as an expert. Neeraj started with ₹2,000 SIPs he didn't fully understand. Know your strengths, and if picking stocks isn't one of them, let funds do it. Put surplus money to work rather than leaving it idle in a bank account. Diversify across asset classes when you become too concentrated. Look past the gross returns in success stories, because tax and failed bets are part of the picture. Above all, keep a steady income, spend with restraint, and give it 10-15 years.
This article is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice. Please consult a qualified advisor before making investment decisions.
Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/6LtbiG22I3o
Join the Accompany Akki WhatsApp community: https://wa.openinapp.co/a46ji
Which part of Neeraj's journey do you relate to most: the confused beginning, the crash, or the reluctant diversification?
