Investors' preference shifting from FDs, real estate to equities, post Covid: Zerodha's Nithin Kamath

Zerodha founder & CEO Nithin Kamath highlights a clear shift in investor preference since the Covid-19 pandemic, with money moving away from fixed deposits and real estate towards equities.

He also points to a sharp rise in unique and first-time investors during this period. Interestingly, Kamath said that mutual funds have emerged as the biggest beneficiaries of this transition, even as direct equity participation has not increased as significantly relative to mutual fund inflows — a trend he finds surprising.

"The Indian markets have changed dramatically in the post-pandemic period. The first big change is, of course, the significant increase in new investors. There are over 11 crore unique investors now. The other big development is the increase in first-time investors. Mutual funds have become the go-to avenue for new investors entering the markets, as you can see in the chart. Surprisingly, direct equity participation hasn't changed much relative to mutual funds," Kamath's tweet said.


"It's early days, but there are noticeable shifts away from FDs, real estate, etc. Considering the unstable and closed-off world we are heading into and the massive investments needed in the future, this "deepening" of the markets is a good thing," the founder said.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Indian markets have changed dramatically in the post-pandemic period. The first big change is, of course, the significant increase in new investors. There are over 11 crore unique investors now.<br><br>The other big development is the increase in first-time investors. Mutual funds… <a href="https://t.co/4m1aI564FU">pic.twitter.com/4m1aI564FU</a></p>— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) <a href="https://twitter.com/Nithin0dha/status/2027356933653672427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 27, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8">

He also shared a blogpost that showed how financial savings have shifted from FY12 to FY25.

Shares and mutual funds accounted for just 1.8% of the financial savings in FY12, with a lion's share (57.9%) going to deposits. In FY25, the gap narrowed as deposits accounted for 35.2% of the basket while stocks & MFs cornered 15.2%.

"Between FY19 and FY25, there’s been a visible shift. Deposits as a share of financial savings have declined. Meanwhile, shares and mutual funds have grown from barely 2% of savings in FY12 to over 15% by FY25," the blog post (z-connect) said.

Kamath is quite active on Twitter and keeps sharing his views on stock market developments, regulatory actions while also offering tips.

Recently he explained how loan against shares (LAS) is a good way to service high-interest debts like the personal loans or credit card dues as he vouched for the discount broker's LAS business that "just" crossed Rs 500 crore. He was also surprised to learn that many investors were unaware of this facility and ended up taking personal loans.

Also read: Zerodha's Nithin Kamath bats for loan against shares facility to service high interest loans

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