Investors get market insights at Business Standard Smart Business

The Business Standard Smart Business conference, organised in Chandigarh in association with National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Chandigarh-based Citizen Awareness Group on Saturday, made investors aware of their rights and optimum use of technology in the securities market.

The conference got overwhelming response from the investor community, including first-time investors. This was the first conference organised by Business Standard, which brought together both experts and investors on a single platform.

“A new retail investor”, whose gross total income for the financial year is less than or equal to Rs 10 lakh, would get tax incentives for investing up to Rs 50,000 in the stock market under the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme,” said Renu Bhandari, chief manager of NSE.

Deliberating upon various instruments available in the market, she said: “Due to lack of awareness, people are not coming forward to invest in equity markets, may be because of the risk involved. For them, there are other options available like mutual dunds and ETF (exchange traded funds) like NIFTY ETF and Gold ETF. ”

Aman Chugh, managing director and chief executive officer of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, mentioned currency futures was one of the most promising instruments for the investors. “Investors need to understand the dynamics of currency futures, which is at the nascent stage. Since inflation is going up and growth is going down, one can opt for currency futures for good returns.”

While delivering his address, A K Vashist, chairman of Chandigarh-based University Business School, said: “In order to become a prudent investor, one needs to have behavioural changes in himself or herself, besides thinking differently. The investor should follow basic principles of investing and should not be carried by other people.”