Rama Krishna Sangem
Here is an interesting trend in our country as well as in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. That our youngsters – mostly in 20s and 30s – are preferring stock markets – equities & mutual funds – to real estate for their investment plans. This is in sharp contrast to the trends in the past – say 15 or 20 years ago. Investments in gold and jewelry too have come down as our youth like them only for ornamental needs – for functions only.
Of course, their parents are pressuring them to invest only in the real estate – including buying houses and open plots and even agricultural lands. But, the youth, especially those who work abroad – the US – are interested in the stock markets, as it is easy for them to monitor their assets. Cryptocurrencies have come and gone and come back again. But, not many are showing keenness to invest in them.
A major reason for the youth to prefer stocks is their fast growth in Indian markets over the years – particularly after the Covid in 2020. Compared to the markets in the world, Indian markets are growing at a jet speed – bulls are running the show. Many youngsters are financial literate now. They know how to operate their demat accounts, from their laptops and smart phones.
Rise in Demat accounts
Demat account is necessary for a person to trade in the stock markets. Demat account was launched in India during the UPA government in 1997. Since then, till December 22, for about 25 years, the number of Demant rose to 11 crore. But, in the last three years, the number increased to around 18 crore. Every month, at least 40 lakh Demat accounts are coming up in India.
This mean, more and more people are coming into the stock markets. Needless to say, a majority of these are the youth – below 40 years age group. Of course, they are the earning category – software and other professionals. Even after the Foreign Institutional Investors or Foreign Portfolio Investors have pulled out of the markets, our indices are raising, because of the pumping of money from the domestic investors.
For example, if in the last three months about Rs 1 lakh crore is taken out by the foreign investors, but not less than Rs 95,000 crore has been pumped in by the domestic investors. This has made our stocks high volatility proof. IPOs are minting money. What does this mean? People who earlier invested money in the real estate are now coming to the stocks – of different types. Gold and Silver are stable, but the real estate is the most hit by this new trend.
