The primary markets are healthy and investor confidence is high compared with the situation five years ago but there is more scope to increase its popularity among investors, said Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Chairperson, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
“The health of our primary market remains robust. In FY25, ₹4.6 trillion was raised through the equity market. In current financial year, the equity market has raised ₹2 trillion already. Unique investors have crossed 135 million, up from just 38 million in FY19, indicating their confidence in our markets,” Mr.Pandey said speaking at an event held on November 7 at Mumbai.
He said that despite the increasing number of unique investors, markets as an investment avenue has not improved. “Our investor survey shows while 63% households are aware of securities products, only 9.5% have invested. Moreover, 80% households remain risk averse, reflecting the fear of loss. Therein lies our opportunity and our challenge. There is a deep well of domestic capital waiting to be deployed and I urge the industry to take advantage of this opportunity. Raise capital, create value for all stakeholders, and help define our economic future,” Mr. Pandey added.
He further spoke about the initiatives where IPO timelines were shortened and scale based approach for minimum public shareholding, referring to them as efforts to streamline capital raising process.
Months after reports of derivative market manipulation by U.S.-based hedge fund Jane Street, Mr. Pandey assured SEBI was taking a very data-driven approach to derivatives alongside existing measures to deal with the challenges in a phased manner. “We are focused on deepening our cash equities market to spur capital formation,” he said.
He further underlined the importance of the domestic investor’s participation through mutual funds, plans to enhance cyber security and concluded that the role of SEBI was that of the “guardian of trust in our markets.”