MSE Financial Inclusion' Drive in Goa

• Seminar organised by the country’s third stock exchange to impart financial literacy to investors from Goa in stock market investing

• Goal is to encourage both men and women even from small and remote areas of the state to come under the ambit of capital markets, as is the vision of the government and regulator

Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India Ltd (MSE) has undertaken a massive ‘Financial Inclusion’ drive to broad-base stock market participation from Tier II, Tier III cities and rural areas of Goa.

 

MSE organised a ‘Financial Inclusion Seminar’ on Friday for imparting ‘Financial Literacy’ and educating men and women of the state about stock market investing in a bid to reduce the gender and geographical skew that exists in market participation.

Currently, around 3 per cent of India’s population of 1.34 billion invests in capital markets, and the participation is extremely skewed to top 10 cities. According to SEBI Bulletin - January 2019, Top 5 cities alone contributed to 69 per cent of cash market turnover during 2017-18. Further, around 85 per cent of an approximately estimated 3.5 crore registered stock market investors in India are men. Hence a need is felt to spread the capital markets literacy across the regions and genders. Both SEBI, the securities market regulator and the stock exchanges are incessantly carrying out this mission. MSE has already reached out to several audiences through their IAPs and specialised seminars and the present programme at Goa has earned all success with large domestic participation.

Ms. Treasa Kuriala, AGM, SEBI, Goa, who was a special guest at MSE’s Financial Inclusion seminar, said: "For inclusive development of our capital markets, more participation is needed from common people from all parts of the country. Hence, exchanges and all the industry stakeholders need to come together for spreading financial literacy among the masses for encouraging broad-based participation on our markets.”

Mr. Suresh Viswanathan, an expert on Securities Market literacy and the Chief Guest at the Seminar said, “Financial literacy is imperative in making educated investment decisions, especially for retail investors. Enhancing participation of public at large on stock markets will require investors to understand the basic nuances of stock trading and risk-based investment. The programmes organized by experienced exchanges like MSE shall go a long way in attainment of this goal.”

Highlighting the need to motivate people from smaller towns and cities to join the markets, Mr. P K Ramesh, Head of Regulatory Affairs and Operations, said, “There has been a steady increase in number of people from smaller towns and cities indirectly investing in stock markets through the mutual fund route. We believe that this is indicative of the latent investment appetite of people from non-metros and Tier-II, Tier III cities. MSEI has demonstrated its commitment towards inculcating healthy capital markets culture through Investor awareness campaigns being conducted across the length and breadth of the country. It is the belief of the MSE that such sessions to equip the investors shall be quintessential s to drive the next phase of stock market growth.”

The Goa ‘Financial Inclusion Seminar’ is a part of series of programmes by MSE across all parts of India. The exchange has so far conducted such financial literacy and inclusion drives in 11 locations across the country, and in remote areas such as [Bharuch, Erode, Warangal, Nanjangud, Gandhidham], under the suggestions and guidance of the Market Regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for broad-basing stock market participation.

About MSE

Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India offers a transparent, hi-tech platform for trading in Capital Market, Futures & Options (F&O), Interest Rate Derivatives, Currency Derivatives, ETFs and Debt Market. At present, 245 companies are listed on the exchange, and about 1,300 large corporate are available for trading in the permitted to trade category.

Since its inception in 2008, MSE - the third national stock exchange to be operational is committed to addressing these two challenges by encouraging broader participation in equity and growing the non-equity segment(s). On the anvil are a slew of differentiated products, some likely to be the first in the Indian market. The product positioning of MSE shall be complemented by reduced operating cost for members, better utilization of their capital and technology upgrade.

Disclaimer: This article has not been edited by Deccan Chronicle and is taken from a syndicated feed. Photos: NewsVoir.