Only 3% of Indian families invest in stock markets and just about 6% in mutual funds

Only 3% of families invest in stock markets: Money9 Survey

INVC NEWS
Mumbai,

Stock markets in India may be booming and so are investments in mutual funds. But do you know how many Indian families actually invest in the stock market and mutual funds? Only 3% of Indian families invest in stock markets and just about 6% in mutual funds. The largest share of investment goes into real estate at 18%. These are some of the findings of India’s First and Biggest independent personal finance survey conducted by Money9, a digital offering of TV9 Network, India’s No.1 television news network.

 Despite robust growth in financial inclusion and the burgeoning financial services industry, almost 69% of Indian households struggle due to financial insecurity and vulnerability. The survey, released on Saturday, for the first time, maps Indian households’ income, savings, investment, and spending. It comes up with crucial insights into how India earns, spends, and saves. The survey has also unveiled India’s first-ever state ranking of citizen financial security, i.e., the Money9 Financial Security Index.

The Money9 Personal Finance Survey is a nationally representative household survey with a mega sample size of 31,510 households across 1,154 urban wards and villages in 100 districts and 20 states or state groups. The Survey was conducted between May and September 2022.

The Money9 Survey has been executed in collaboration with Research Triangle Institute (RTI) Global India, a subsidiary of RTI International (US).

The scale of Money9 personal finance survey is comparable to RBI and NCAER, in terms of design, and geographical coverage. The survey adopted a holistic, systematic, interlinked approach to focus on the demand side of personal financial services to measure the levels of financial security among Indian Households, across states and districts of India.

Key Survey Findings

• The survey finds that the average income of an Indian family of 4.2 persons is Rs 23,000 per month. Over 46% of Indian families have an income of less than Rs 15,000 per month i.e. belong to the aspiring or lowest-income cohort.
•  Only 3% of Indian households have a luxury standard of living and most of them belong to higher income cohorts (High- Middle and Rich)
• Survey finds that 70% of Indian households do some financial savings in the form of Bank deposits, Insurance, Post office savings, and Gold. The incidence of saving is less prevalent among the aspiring class. Also, two-fifths of the Indian households in the same class are unable to do any financial savings. There is a clear need to address this segment by the policy makers/ market players.
• The survey finds 22% of Indian households invested in stocks, mutual funds, ULIP & physical assets. However, investment in Property/ Land is high (18%) followed by Mutual Funds (6%), Stock Market (3%), and ULIP (3%)
• The survey finds that only 11% of Indian households have active loans with banks or NBFC. Among all retail loans, the consumption of personal loans is highest, followed by home loan
• India’s Money9 Financial Security Index which ranks states in security across several parameters. This index finds 42% half of Indian households are “insecured” (this includes households having monthly earnings of INR 15,000 or more). The level of financial insecurity further increases to 69% after including the lowest income cohorts i.e.  households having monthly earnings up to Rs.15,000

Commenting on the importance of the Survey, Barun Das, MD & CEO, TV9 Network, said, “The survey findings point to the critical gap between demand and supply side in the personal finance space. The data should help diverse stakeholders quickly refurbish the demand side and at the same time, understand the gap in the supply side. And thus, we would be able to complete our journey of achieving financial security through financial wisdom. Money9 is committed to playing a pivotal role in bringing about this paradigm shift”.

Anshuman Tiwari, Editor, Money9, said, “This survey has thrown up unique and highly valuable insights about the financial security of the masses in India and their income-saving behaviour. We will continue to engage with policymakers and financial service providers to further the objective of financial security”.

Money9

Money9 is India’s first multimedia multilingual personal finance content and empowerment unit of one of TV9 Network, India’s No.1 television news network. Money 9 has recently launched India’s first OTT platform in seven languages. The Money 9 App has got an overwhelming response with over 1.5 lakh downloads in the first two months of its soft launch in mid-July this year. Money9 has registered over 600% growth in monthly active users in the first two months since the launch. The App offers over 19 exclusive shows (daily, weekly, and monthly) in six languages

The videos of Money9 have gotten over 1.5 billion views since January 22 on YouTube and aggregator platforms.

RTI International

Research Triangle Institute (RTI) Global India is a subsidiary of RTI International (founded in 1958 in the US) and was established to provide research and technical services to address social and developmental challenges. RTI has conducted several research studies in the past for a range of clients, including the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, World Health Organization, Pew Research Center, LIRNEasia, etc.