People invest in banks but things are changing slowly in favour of capital markets, says Neeraj Kulshrestha.
The Outlook Money Conclave 2018, in its inaugural day today, was addressed by Neeraj Kulshrestha, the Chief of Business Operations-Bombay Stock Exchange in its initial session. ‘Big Changes in the Financial Services Panel’ was the theme of the keynote speech delivered by Mr Kulshrestha.
In his introductory remark, Mr Kulshrestha reiterated the importance of the Indian economy at the global platform and its ability to act a facilitator and multiplier of economic growth across the world.
“It is projected that national savings in India will touch US$ 1,272 billion by 2019. However, investment participation from domestic retail investors in India lags developed and many developing countries when it comes to equity and insurance reach”, said Mr Kulshrestha.
According to the SEBI Investors Survey 2015, more than 95% of investors favour bank deposits while less than 10% opt for mutual funds or stocks. “Today we have around 3.8 crore registered investors in the capital markets, which form 3% of the entire population”, he highlighted.
The Insurance Industry in India is the fifteenth largest insurance market in the world in terms of premium volume, with total premiums of US$ 65 billion in 2017. The industry is growing at a CAGR of 15% over the last five years. But as of 2017, the insurance penetration in India was 3.9 percent, below the world average of 6.3 percent.
Expressing the concern, he mentioned that the landscape in India is limited in favour of capital markets but the things are changing rapidly with the new government initiatives such as Uniform Platform for trading in Equities, Currencies and Commodities; Boost for GIFT City IFSC, vision for Gold Spot Exchange and many more.
Concluding his address, Mr Neeraj Kulshrestha informed the audience that BSE is focusing on growth of ‘emerging India’ through innovative business models and is forging partnerships for seamless implementation. “The relaxation of investment rules (doing away with the prior approval requirement in case of change in local custodian, Category I and II FPIs, which are essentially government and regulated entities, should not need any additional documentation and procedural requirements and so on) and market friendly reforms (Universal Exchange Platform, Unified Regulator for GIFT City) augers well for the financial services space”, he added.