Capital Markets to Overtake Bank Credit: Kotak AMC

Mumbai, Dec 9 (PTI) Credit provided by the mutual fund industry will overtake bank credit one day, a veteran asset manager said on Tuesday.

Nilesh Shah, the managing director and chief executive of Kotak Mahindra AMC, who is also a part-time member of the Economic Advisory Council to the PM, urged people to shift towards wiser investing.

"Credit traditionally was provided by banks. But now it is provided by capital markets... And one day, I'm sure it will exceed bank credit," he said at an event here.

Shah said the capital markets are employing as many people as the banking sector, if one were to take into account both the direct and indirect jobs created by the capital market.

Indians need to shift to being more wiser with their investments, he urged.

"Today, India is poor not because it is earning less, but because it doesn't invest well," Shah said at the event organised by brokerage Groww and consulting firm Bain & Company.

Keeping the cash at home or blowing it in now-banned real money gaming or booking losses through crypto bets - aspects Indians indulge in - will not get one returns, he said.

Shah rued that even mutual fund industry employees were found to have invested in a ponzi scheme which went bust recently.

Speaking at the same event, Edelweiss Mutual Fund's managing director and chief executive, Radhika Gupta, called for incentives to ensure that a person starts investing from their early 20s onward.

There can be a lock-in of five to ten years, which can ensure that the person stays invested and creates wealth for herself, she said.