Goyal: Stock Market Investors Know the Risks and Rewards

Mumbai, Aug 23 (PTI) Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said stock market investors place their bets with eyes wide open, knowing the risks and rewards.

In the comments that come amid heightened concerns over people losing money in speculative short-term bets on the stock markets, Goyal said the investors have seen progress over the last decade.

Amid a huge surge in trading volumes, especially in the derivative or intra-day front, official data suggests that nine of ten bets go sour on the futures and options, while seven out of ten intra-day bets also lead to losses for retail investors. This has prompted a regulatory and policy response to disincentivise speculative bets, and voices in support of long-term bets.

"Investments in the stock market are with eyes wide open, they know that it is fraught with risks and also know about the rewards," Goyal said, addressing a chartered accountants' gathering here.

He added that the investors have seen progress in India over the last ten years, and questioned why some people are "debunking" India's growth story with videos on social media.

"There will be naysayers, there will be people who will distrust what you are saying. They will issue videos on social media scaring you and scaring investors not to invest in the India growth story. I don't know what their mindset or objective is, I don't know why they are trying to debunk the India growth story," he said.

He said there is a small set of people who do not take pride in the hard work of fellow Indians and post such videos which ask people not to invest in the stock market as the situation is bad in India.

Refraining from naming people who are posting such videos, Goyal asked the audience if it was getting the hint about their identities, and also asked if he needed to be more "explicit".

The minister said the India growth story is very strong and added that the government has laid the foundations for erecting a tall skyscraper of growth and progress which will see India become the third biggest economy in the next three years from the 10th place in 2014.

Goyal mentioned a recent meeting with the world's biggest asset manager, where the latter made it clear that currency depreciation or inflation does not concern him when it comes to India.

On inflation, Goyal wondered why RBI feels that the headline number, which has cooled down to a five-year low of around 3.5 per cent in July, will move up again, stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have worked to ensure a fiscal and monetary response at curtailing the number.

He added that headline inflation will remain within the RBI's target band of 4 per cent with a 2 percentage point leeway on either side.

The 2013 scheme by RBI under which the country attracted USD 30 billion of foreign currency by paying higher interest was an "artificial" way of bringing down the currency from Rs 68 to Rs 54 to the dollar, Goyal said, adding that such temporary borrowings should not be confused as a sign of a strong economy.

The Commerce Minister said the exports are doing well, particularly on the services front, and ascribed the high imports to the inability of domestic companies to produce the necessary goods and services to produce sufficiently for satisfying the local demand.

He also said that Modi is in Kyiv right now as a messenger of peace and for advocating dialogue and diplomacy.

Meanwhile, Goyal, a CA himself, estimated that the number of CAs will double to 10 lakhs in the next 6-8 years, and also asked the professionals to help the government in drafting a crisp and precise Income Tax Act.