The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, has strongly highlighted the remarkable resilience and massive expansion of India’s capital markets. Addressing the eleventh J.P. Morgan India Conference today, the SEBI chief noted that despite severe geopolitical headwinds and fragmented global supply chains, the Indian economy continues to show stellar progress. He revealed that the country’s real GDP grew by 7.8 per cent in the first quarter of the current financial year.
Providing a snapshot of the capital ecosystem, the Chairman stated that India’s equity market today boasts a market capitalization of around five trillion US dollars. He said over the past decade, more than one hundred trillion rupees have been raised through equity and debt issuances. Mr Pandey said the momentum has carried into the current fiscal year, with around six hundred billion rupees raised through Initial Public Offerings so far, out of which 55 per cent represents fresh capital flowing directly into companies. Mr Pandey said outstanding corporate bonds have also surged to about 61 trillion rupees today.
Highlighting a historic surge in public participation, Mr Pandey announced that India now has around 149 million unique securities-market investors. Driven by growing household savings, mutual fund assets have nearly tripled in five years, skyrocketing from 37 trillion rupees to 87 trillion rupees.
Speaking on international capital, the SEBI Chairman stated that Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) remain a crucial pillar, holding assets under custody of around 818 billion US dollars.
Detailing regulatory reforms, Mr Pandey affirmed that SEBI’s priority is to reduce avoidable friction and use technology intelligently while keeping trust at the centre. He highlighted the SWAGAT-FI framework, which has fast-tracked the digital onboarding of over two hundred trusted foreign investors since June this year. SEBI has also launched Demat 2.0, a pilot project for the tokenisation of corporate bonds using Distributed Ledger Technology.
Looking ahead, the Chairman mentioned that SEBI is consulting on new frameworks, including a Credit Risk-o-Meter to help investors better understand credit risks, and stronger cyber-security protocols to bolster market resilience.
