The Exchanges

Q Understood. And you know, if, if you can tell historically, how has the, the retail participation in stock markets and mutual funds increased in India over a period of decades?

A I mean, retail participation obviously has, Uh, shot up, uh, manifold over the years. And I think that's been led more by, uh, uh, you know, the fact that there is easy access for you to open accounts and to access the stock market. Um, I think that trend kind of started off maybe in the mid nineties when, when NSE came about and electronic trading kind of started and therefore it led to, uh, you know, far more transparency and ease of trading. Then you kind of calling up a broker, Placing an order. You didn't know what price it was happening at. You got some contract note, which came in the evening. You didn't even know what, you know, so it was at that point of time, I mean, pre, I think, 19, mid-nineteen nineties, it was very opaque. Um, and I think that transparency led to a lot more investors, uh, uh, you know, coming into the market, uh, and, and that has kept increasing, um, you know, over the past, uh, you know, a few years, I mean, I don't know the latest numbers, but I think DMAT accounts now are at 13 or 14 crores or something like that.

AI assessment note: “retail participation obviously has, Uh, shot up, uh, manifold over the years.”

Q And, uh, one, one thing is that, uh, There are so many fund houses, right? And the number of fund houses are growing. Like you mentioned, uh, right now, is there a space for everyone to grow? Like the market is growing so fast.

A I think so Siddharth, because, uh, the number of people that are out there to be tapped is huge. Um, and the more people, you know, who come into the market in terms of asset management companies, the more we'll be able to reach out to more and more people. Uh, you know, as, as an industry. So I think the space is still there for a lot more players, uh, to come in. Uh, I think again, as I said, my personal aspiration being that, uh, we should be able to increase the width of, uh, the number of the people that we kind of tapping. And as long as you have more and more in, uh, you know, AMC is coming, trying to ensure that, uh, you know, we're able to reach out to more and more people. Um, I think that's a win-win for, for everyone, I think.

AI assessment note: “I think so Siddharth, because, uh, the number of people that are out there”

Q What do they do? Like, because you are not launching digital products.

A So we're building a backbone within the organization, which are tech backbone, uh, you know, through which, uh, Whatever it may be, whether it's fund management or operations or customer service is all done in, you know, in house, uh, you know, by the team. And so a lot of products and features are being built in house, uh, you know, to ensure that, uh, whether it is customer service, there is a kind of standardized, uh, uh, I would say interface or communication that is going out, uh, To investors and also from the fund management side, right? The way we see the organization is that we're trying to, uh, well, give to customers a cost effective product, right? And for me to give investors the cost benefit until I don't build infrastructure behind it, which is cost effective, I won't be able to pass on those benefits, uh, to the end investor, right? And therefore we're building that tech backbone such that as we build scale, Right. Um, we're not incrementally adding too much cost within the organization so that we're able to ensure that the each and every product that we launch is kind of cost effective for the end investor.

AI assessment note: “we're building a backbone within the organization, which are tech backbone”

Q Also there is some volatility in the markets. The markets are down, but the overall Indian macro globally is very high, right? So it's a good point of time, exactly like 20, 20, For folks to enter more ETFs, more mutual funds.

A Definitely. And, and it's already happening. So, um, you know, keeping in mind that, uh, there is a correction in the markets and keeping in mind, as you said that, uh, you know, the correction has been more due to events, which, uh, you know, to an extent have been, uh, you know, India related, but a lot global related. I mean, it does make sense for people to, I mean, if they're doing their recipes to kind of step up their recipes and start investing a little more, Uh, uh, you know, in, uh, in say, uh, mutual funds, uh, keeping in mind that, uh, um, the next four to five years, uh, India is gonna keep growing here.

AI assessment note: “Definitely. And, and it's already happening.”

Q Do you think we are not very far away when we'll see roughly 20 crore, 15 to 20 crore people having a mutual fund?

A I mean, I, I mean, for me, it's actually a personal aspiration. Um, and that's one of the things that, uh, you know, also, uh, led me on to, uh, you know, uh, kind of be part of this venture. Uh, one of the reasons being that, uh, there is, uh, A huge population out there that still needs to be tapped. Um, uh, because if you look at, you know, any kind of numbers, uh, you know, in the economy, um, there are about 15 crore guys who've kind of linked their adhares with pan, right? So there are a huge number of people out there, um, who are there to be tapped. Um, and, uh, you know, our belief is that, uh, creating the right kind of products, um, making products simple, Um, you know, making the journey much better, uh, for investors will lead to more and more people kind of coming into mutual funds and kind of using financial products to achieve their, uh, you know, life goals.

AI assessment note: “there are about 15 crore guys who've kind of linked their adhares with pan”

Q And, uh, one thing that I wanted to ask is the penetration of food delivery OTT. Is it increasing in directly in proportion to the increase of mutual fund, uh, investors in India, or there's no correlation between them?

A I mean, I would say it's difficult to compare, uh, Siddhar. Um, remember one thing OTT is, uh, is instant gratification. Right. Um, whereas any kind of investment that you do, you need to make a long-term converse commitment and it's got its own bit of risk, uh, that is there associated with it. Right. So not the right, uh, you know, I think to compare in terms of, should you compare OTT with, uh, you know, growth in OTT with say growth in mutual funds, but I think it's important as, uh, you know, leaders for us to understand the kind of journey And, uh, and, and the kind of investor behavior that has led to this sharp, uh, you know, increase in OTT users, uh, you know, over the years. And that's something that we have to learn from, um, and see how we can use those learnings, uh, to ensure that more and more people are kind of able to, uh, enter the stock markets. I mean, enter the, uh, enter mutual funds.

AI assessment note: “I mean, I would say it's difficult to compare”