Veteran banker Uday Kotak on Friday highlighted that India has fast changed from a nation of savers to a nation of investors. Speaking at the CII annual business summit on Friday, Kotak noted that India had a ‘rough history’ in the financial sector between 2010 and 2020. 

He further noted that earlier companies used to go to foreign exchanges to raise money. “For somebody like me who started his career 35-40 years ago when it was essentially a saver-borrower market and not an investor-issuer market, we used to see an export of Indian capital markets,” Kotak said. He added that companies used to approach exchanges like the one in Luxembourg to raise money.

Kotak, non-executive Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said: “From that to today, it is a matter of great pride and satisfaction, that India, that used to be a nation of savers once upon a time is fast becoming a nation of investors.” 

He added that things have changed. He noted that there has been a transformation, which is visible in the mutual fund AUMs and rising SIP numbers that keep growing month on month. “But this pursuit must go along with stability. We have to be clear that in our desire for a capital market model, we can not forgo stability,” Kotak said.