The dip is the discount.
A pause skips it.
01
A SIP earns its keep on the red days. The whole point is buying more units when the price is low. Stop in the fall and you have switched off the one feature you signed up for, then bought the rebound at full price.
02
Felt safe is the trap. Pausing in March and resuming in August always feels responsible. But you sat out the discount and came back at the sticker price. The fear that stopped the buying was the buying signal.
03
If the cash is short, shrink the amount, do not stop the date. Halve the SIP for a few months if you must, but keep the calendar running. A smaller buy at 71 still beats a full buy at 100.
The market does not hand out a sale very often. When it finally does, a paused SIP is you standing at the till, walking out, and coming back to pay full price once the discount is gone.