India has changed from a nation of savers to a nation of investors: Uday Kotak

Banking industry veteran Uday Kotak on Friday expressed satisfaction with the fact that India has fast changed from a nation of savers to a nation of investors.

Speaking at a CII event, the Kotak Mahindra Bank founder reminisced how in the past when companies wanted to raise money, they would go to foreign exchanges.

"For somebody like me who started his career 35-40 years ago when it was essentially a saver-borrower market and not an investor-issuer market, we used to see an export of Indian capital markets," Kotak said. He added that companies used to approach exchanges like the one in Luxembourg to raise money.


"From that to today, it is a matter of great pride and satisfaction, that India, that used to be a nation of savers once upon a time is fast becoming a nation of investors," Kotak said.

Kotak also noted India's rising appetite for investing through Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs).

"This transformation of India, which is spreading far and wide, where mutual funds' SIP keep growing MoM, and the Indian wealth management industry is now reaching global size, it is an amazing development," Kotak said at the event.

Equity mutual funds attracted Rs 18,917 crore in April, marking a slump of 16 per cent from the preceding month, on a huge decline in inflow in large-cap funds and increased volatility in market owing to pre-elections phase.

This also marks the 38th consecutive month of net inflows in equity funds, starting from March 2021, data with the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) showed.

Despite the decline in inflow, monthly Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) contributions crossed the Rs 20,000 crore-mark and reached an all-time high of Rs 20,371 crore in April compared to Rs 19,271 crore in the previous month.

"If India has to finance and truly be competitive, the main engine for it would be continued sustenance of capital markets. However, within this, we have to be very clear that in our desire to build a capital market-led model, we do not forego the concept of stability," Kotak said.