BSE head Ashishkumar Chauhan says 25% of population benefiting from equity investments

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Despite awareness campaigns and efforts to ensure financial inclusion, the fruits of equity participation are yet to make its way into the lives of a majority of Indian citizens.

In an interview with Money9, BSE MD and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan, however, said the percentage of people investing in equity products has seen a rapid increase in the last few years.

“It may seem that very few people invest in equities. But that is not the case. There are at present 6.15 crore investors in BSE and 3.8 crore investors uniquely registered. We reach around 35 crore Indians and one out of every four Indian sees Sensex as his wealth barometer. So, it would be wrong to say we have not been able to reach our citizens. I will say we have reached 25% of our citizens and there is a long way to go,” he told Money9.

He pointed out that after China, India has become the largest investing nation in the world.

“Unfortunately, we still seem to believe in the theories that were being propagated 30-40 years ago. The listed companies in BSE have led job-creation in the country. Today, the entire stock market in terms of wealth is larger than the banking system,” he said.

Watch the full interview here: