Indian Equities Gain Resilience Against Foreign Investments, Says SEBI Chief

Ira Singh
Khabar Khabaron Ki,09 Dec’23

The Indian stock markets, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch on Friday said the Indian equities are no longer vulnerable to foreign investments as mutual funds and retail investors have become major players.

SEBI chief’s comment comes in the backdrop of record breaking bull run in the Indian equities markets. Benchmark Sensex of the BSE hit a record high of 69,893.80 points on Friday, while the broader Nifty 50 of the NSE soared past 21,000 points mark for the first time.She said the asset under management of mutual funds in India has surged to Rs 50 lakh crore from just around Rs 8 lakh crore 10 years back. “We now have over 4 crore of investors who are contributing to the stability of the market,” she added.

Buch further underlined that the market capitalisation of the companies listed on the BSE has surged to Rs 311 lakh crore from around Rs 74 lakh crore 10 years back.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s Global Economic Policy Forum in the capital, Buch further asserted that India will introduce same-day settlement of trades on the bourses – or the T-plus zero regime – by the end of this financial year.

Sebi has already shortened the settlement time to the next day (T-plus one) upon the initiation of trades and, as Buch had said earlier, it aims to move to instant settlement in 12 months after the T-plus zero regime is adopted, according to information.

The inclusion of Indian sovereign bonds in the global indices, the Sebi chief said at the conference, will not just help the government raise resources better but also deepen the country’s corporate bond market.“We are hoping that down the line, it will be a case of my name is bond, Indian bond,” she added alluding to the growing importance of the Indian bond in the global markets.