Make informed calls, shun false promises: Tyagi ahead of Investors Meet

As Sebi prepares to spearhead World Investors Week, Chairman Ajay Tyagi said there is a need for new investors to take informed investment decisions without getting lured by false promises

There is a need for new investors to take informed investment decisions without getting lured by false promises and unsolicited advice, Sebi chairman Ajay Tyagi has said as the regulator spearheads World Investors Week celebrations in India beginning Monday.

Every year, the World Investor Week (WIW) is celebrated the world over, under the aegis of IOSCO, the global body of securities regulators, in order to give further impetus to the various investor education and awareness initiatives.

The WIW is celebrated in more than 100 jurisdictions across the world.

Sebi has been participating in the celebrations along with exchanges, depositories, investor associations, commodity derivative trainers and resource persons since 2017.

Sebi is the national coordinator for the WIW in India, which will be celebrated this time from November 23-29.

"There is a need for the new investors to make informed investment decisions. Thus, investor awareness and education play an important role in educating the investor. One should not get lured by false promises and by unsolicited advice," Tyagi said in a special message on this occasion.

Economic function of the securities market is to ensure that savings get channelised into productive investment proposals, which lead to capital formation and economic growth, he said.

"One of the main objectives of Sebi is to protect the interests of investors in securities, while investor awareness and education is key to investor protection," Tyagi said.

The Sebi chairman noted that complexities of the securities market have grown manifold during the last three decades with so many developments relating to the market structure and newer products, to name a few on the supply side.

On the demand side too, newer participants have entered the market and trends in participation of retail investors are also encouraging in terms of the growth in the number of demat accounts as also the number of portfolios of mutual funds, he added.

Tyagi said the WIW celebrations, which generally take place during the month of October, have got delayed this year due to the pandemic but hoped that the investors, especially those who have joined the securities market recently, will attend the proposed programmes in large numbers and get benefitted.

The week will witness various awareness activities like investor awareness webinars, competitions, media campaigns, etc being conducted by Sebi and in association with stock exchanges, commodity derivative exchanges and depositories.

Industry bodies like AMFI and ANMI have also planned various programmes, while nationwide quizzes and slogan writing competition will also be organised by various market entities.

Theme for this year celebrations is 'Investor Awareness: A Key to Financial Well-being'.

The WIW celebrations this year attain significance that record number of new investors have started investing in the securities market despite COVID-19.