Indian equity mkt provides tremendous opportunities: survey

India provides tremendous opportunities for financial inclusion via penetration and development in the Indian equity market today, a survey conducted by Nielsen Company said.

'Indian Equity Investors Survey 2010', of retail and institutional investors, conducted by Nielsen and released by MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) said an opportunity for greater penetration is highlighted by the fact that across the country, even though about 1.5 per cent of the population invests directly in the markets, only 18 per cent of those surveyed of the urban, informed segment, invested directly in equities.

The top 5 cities in India contribute 84 per cent to trading in 2009-10, a figure up by 6 per cent from 2001-02. Cash trading volumes from Mumbai and Delhi alone account for 65 per cent of cash trading and 60 per cent of mutual funds volume.

The survey polled 1,207 current and potential retail investors from 12 cities across all geographic zones and levels of development, ages and occupation; 60 corporates, including banks and financial institutions, from the 4 metros and 120 SMEs from clusters in 12 cities throughout India.

Housewives at 7 per cent offer the greatest investment opportunity, followed by students at 9 per cent, defence personnel 18 per cent, self-employed 20 per cent, salaried 21 per cent and businessmen 27 per cent, the survey said.