India's stock market offers scale and growth: Pandey

Mumbai: India is building a stock market that is well-governed and investable for long-term institutional capital, Sebi chief Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on Wednesday.

"India's proposition is simple. We offer scale. We offer growth. And we are building markets that are transparent, well-governed, and investable for long-term institutional capital. As a regulator, our role is to ensure that growth is not just fast, but also credible and durable," Pandey said at the Kotak Investor Conference.

"Geopolitical tensions are shaping trade and finance. And technological changes are disrupting traditional forms of business. In such a world, growth is no longer just about returns. It is about resilience, credibility and predictability," he said.


Foreign portfolio investors are an important part of the country's market ecosystem, Pandey said.

Equity assets under custody of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have grown more than three-fold to about ₹71 lakh crore by the end of January 2026, compared with about ₹19 lakh crore at the end of FY16. Including debt and other instruments, total FPI assets under custody stand at about ₹78 lakh crore, according to Sebi data.

"FPI flows are inherently cyclical. They respond to global liquidity conditions, currency movements, relative valuations, and policy stances of major central banks. What adds strength to India's market structure today is the growing counterbalance from domestic institutional investors. This makes our markets more resilient during global risk-off phases," he said.