'This Day, Five Years Ago': Radhika Gupta Gives Hope As Markets Crash

Markets witnessed a sharp sell-off on Monday, triggering panic among investors and a sea of red across screens worldwide. Fears of slowing global growth, stubborn inflation, and escalating geopolitical tensions led to a broad-based decline in equities. Amid the chaos, Edelweiss Mutual Fund CEO Radhika Gupta took to social media with a message grounded in past experience.

“This day. Five years ago. When everything was red and the world looked like it would end. Keep cash (emergency fund), keep calm, and carry on,” she posted on X (formerly Twitter).

 

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Her words were a nod to the market crash of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic sent global indices crashing, wiping out trillions in market value within days. While investors scrambled for cover back then, those who stayed invested and maintained discipline saw portfolios recover strongly in the following months.

Today’s correction may not mirror the intensity of 2020, but investor sentiment remains fragile. The renewed uncertainty has heightened volatility across markets, with safe-haven assets like gold seeing inflows, while equities and emerging market currencies are under pressure.

Gupta’s post served as a timely reminder of three timeless investing principles — the importance of having an emergency fund, the need for emotional steadiness during downturns, and the discipline to stay focused on long-term goals.

With many retail investors entering markets in recent years, such messages carry weight. Short-term pain is part and parcel of investing, but as history shows, markets tend to reward patience.

As volatility grips the financial world once again, Gupta’s advice — to “keep calm and carry on” — resonates as a simple yet powerful strategy for navigating uncertainty. It's a call to trust time, not timing.

Indian stock markets opened in a red territory, with benchmark indices plunging as investor panic gripped Dalal Street. The Sensex crashed 3,939.68 points to 71,425.01 as trading resumed at 9 AM post-weekend, while the Nifty nosedived 1,160.8 points to 21,743.65 in early trade—both logging a steep 3.5% decline.