Mutual Funds Industry Will Play Big Role In ‘Viksit Bharat’: Sundeep Sikka at IES 2024

India Economic Summit : At fourth edition of Republic Media Network's India Economic Summit , Sundeep Sikka, ED and CEO at Nippon Mutual Funds, emphasised role of mutual funds industry will be playing towards achieving resolution of ‘Viksit Bharat’. 

Sikka discussed changing landscape of investing in India, role of mutual funds in financial inclusion, and economic policies that are contributing to India’s long-term growth.

“Today, 54% of all new SIPs are coming from smaller cities and towns. foundation of this shift was laid by key policy reforms like Jan Dhan, demonetization, and introduction of unified KYC. In 2014, mutual fund industry was worth Rs 9 lakh crores, and today it stands at Rs 70 lakh crores. This is a significant growth, driven largely by small investors from small cities and towns,” said Sundeep Sikka.

‘Mutual Funds Word Searched More on Google In Smaller Cities’

He furr emphasized that perception of mutual funds in rural areas has undergone a complete transformation compared to past.

“I think when we go to small cities and towns, mutual funds were something, it was an alien product. People did not understand. Now, if you go to Google Trends, data tells you mutual fund word is being searched more in smaller cities than bigger cities. fastest growing cities are, let's take Nasik, Durgapur, smaller cities,” he said. 

Sundeep Sikka Hopeful of Every Indian Household Becoming Mutual Fund Investor By 2047 

He also touched upon growing interest in mutual funds and cultural shift away from tritional savings methods, like bank deposits and physical gold. 

"Till now, investing was done for a very different reason. For first time, this Diwali , we saw a very different change. highest volume of mutual fund ETFs was tred on stock exchanges on Dhanteras. Till now, Indians wanted to invest in gold physically. Last year, it was Rs 80 crores. This time, it's almost Rs 450 crores. So trend is changing and it's changing faster than what we can expect. And today, we have 5 crore unique investors. And I think that day will not be far away. I think you talked about 2047 when I think we will be a $50 trillion economy. I think it's our dream and wish. I think every Indian household will be a mutual fund investor by n,” he said.

‘ Stock Market is Economy's Reflection’

While refraining from predicting future of Indian stock market trajectory, Sikka said that stock market does perform well when economy booms. 

“I don't think anybody in room can predict where stock markets are heed. But I think what is very important to understand, stock market is a reflection of economy. If economy does well, stock market also do well. So again, for me, when I say this, I always say direction is more important than speed. So as a country, we're in right direction,” Sikka said. 

India Economic Summit, held at Republic’s hequarters— largest news center in Asia—brought toger policymakers and industry leers to discuss India's economic future. This year’s me, "Viksit Bharat: Bullseye," focused on envisioning a $50 trillion economy by 2047.