Nifty would have plunged to 20K without retail investors, DIIs: Gurmeet Chadha calls for rewarding patient risk capital

Market veteran Gurmeet Chadha has come out in strong support of retail investors and Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), without whom Nifty would have plunged to 20,000. He advocated rewarding them for their patient, long-term capital.

The statement was made in the wake of the December mutual fund data released today, which stated that systematic investment plan (SIP) inflows had hit a fresh record high, with contributions rising to Rs 31,002 crore, compared with Rs 29,445 crore in November. The SIP contributions increased 5% month-on-month (MoM) and 17% year-on-year (YoY), from Rs 26,459 crore in December 2024.

"SIP book grows to 31000 cr in a tough environment. Heartening to see this… Nifty wud have been 20k levels without retail & DIIs & broader financial stability would have been impacted with FIIs selling 6 lac crore in last 2 yrs. We need to reward patient long term risk capital," Chadha said in a tweet on Friday.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SIP book grows to 31000 cr in a tough environment.<br><br>Heartening to see this… Nifty wud have been 20k levels without retail & DIIs & broader financial stability would have been impacted with FIIs selling 6 lac crore in last 2 yrs<br><br>We need to reward patient long term risk capital.</p>— Gurmeet Chadha (@connectgurmeet) <a href="https://twitter.com/connectgurmeet/status/2009568216738361550?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8">

Read more: AMFI Data: Mutual fund SIP inflows surge to record Rs 31,002 crore in December

After remaining net sellers of Indian equities at Rs 1,66,286 in 2025, the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have continued their selling trends in 2026, so far, offloading domestic shares worth Rs 11,789 crore over the first nine days.

Chadha has been a strong advocate of measures to reward Indian investors. He has been urging the government to reduce Long Term capital Gains (LTCG) to 10% and reiterated the demand for the upcoming Union Budget 2026.

Currently, the long term capital gains on listed equity shares and units of mutual funds are exempt up to Rs 1.25 lakhs. They apply to securities held for 12 months or more. Meanwhile, selling equity shares within one year of holding them incurs a short-term capital gain (STCG) tax of 20%. It was 15% prior to July 23, 2024.

Read more: Budget 2026 wish list: Gurmeet Chadha seeks LTCG relief, special lending rates for gold and silver

(Disclaimer: The recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)