Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her address at the 150-year celebrations of BSE, shared a message for all stakeholders of the financial markets, and investors. She advised investors to remain informed, patient, and confident in the long-term promise of disciplined wealth creation. For market intermediaries and exchanges, she urged innovation with purpose, emphasising investor interest should always remain at the centre.
What Did FM Say?
The finance Minister said, “To our corporates let transparency, sound governance, and commitment to shareholder value be your guiding principles. To our regulators – remain proactive, agile, and responsive in a world defined by rapid change.”
She further made a point that to truly democratise investment, stock exchanges must consistently innovate and design products that are accessible, understandable, and aligned with the risk appetite and savings behaviour of the people.
Sitharaman highlighted that Investor education becomes vital in a rapidly growing market with increasing retail participation. She called for conduct of Investor Awareness Programs (IAPs) in regional languages across urban and rural areas. These programs should focus on students, senior citizens, women, rural investors, and first-time traders, added the Finance Minister.
The Finance Minister further spoke about role of stock exchanges. She stressed that they serve as more than just trading platforms and are a crucial part of the capital markets.
“As first-line regulators, the stock exchanges carry a profound responsibility. At the same time, they need to balance the cost of compliance with such regulations and enable innovations and informed risk-taking,” she added.
She asserted that India has established one of the most robust market infrastructures in the world. For this, India carried reforms such as De-materialisation, T+1 settlement, direct market access, and mutual fund penetration.
“This transition of DIIs from a supportive to a dominant force underlines the growing maturity and depth of India’s capital markets,” Sitharaman noted.
