Share Market: About 75% of Investors are first time in the last 4 years..!

Share Market: About 75% of Investors are first time in the last 4 years..!

The investor base in India is increasing; nearly 75 percent of the investors in SEBI Investor Survey 2015 (SIS 2015) participated in the securities markets for the first time within the last five years

Bank deposits are clear favourite for Indian investors. According to a SEBI Investor survey 2015, Indian households overwhelmingly (about 90%) prefer bank deposits as their first choice while less than 10%  opt for investing in mutual funds or shares.

Life insurance was second most preferred investment instrument, followed by precious metals, post office savings and real estate.

However, the survey found the investor base in India is increasing as about 75% of the respondents have participated in the securities markets for the first time in the last five years. Response from rural households suggests that mutual funds were the most popular instruments (66%).

There were an estimated 1.9 crore households which invested in equities and 77 lakh household which invested in bonds (public, private and PSU).

While 15% of survey participants are investors, just 18% of these have invested in initial public offerings.

Over 72% of regular IPO investors find the IPO process challenging. The book-building process, the time taken for allocation and the handing over of cheques are the most critical roadblocks. Each of these issues has been acted upon by the SEBI over the past year.

The median IPO investor participates is one IPO a year. Despite the largescale closure of brokerages, financial intermediaries play a key role in IPO information dissemination. Stockbrokers are the largest supplier of IPO application forms. 

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