Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Monday says Indian financial markets have the resilience and institutional strength to absorb 'different types of shocks' arising from global crises, including the ongoing conflict in West Asia. The SEBI chief also warned investors against rising digital frauds, fake trading platforms and misleading financial advice. Further, highlighting SEBI’s ongoing crackdown on unregulated investment advice and misleading online content, Mr Pandey says the regulator is actively monitoring digital platforms for misleading content circulated by so-called 'finfluencers'.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an investor awareness programme in Bhubaneswar, Mr Pandey says volatility in financial markets has increased due to geopolitical tensions in West Asia, particularly disruptions to oil supply chains and the resulting inflationary pressures across economies.
“When there is a crisis in one part of the world, it also impacts the rest of the globe,” the SEBI chief says, adding, "Due to the prevailing conflict in West Asia, the oil supply chain and its prices got affected in the rest of the world. All the economies have been affected by this and obviously, there are inflationary risks. Besides, spillover effect and second-order effect will also come in."
However, the SEBI chief asserted that Indian markets are capable of handling such external shocks.
“Indian markets have the capacity to absorb different types of shocks,” he says, amid heightened concerns over global market volatility linked to geopolitical instability and energy price movements.
Calling investor awareness, the 'foundation of participation', the SEBI chairman warned retail investors against fraudulent schemes promising unrealistic returns.
“If someone tells you — ‘this investment will definitely double your money’ — please be cautious,” he says. “Avoid tips, rumours, and unverified advice. You must think long term, diversify your investments, and always use regulated channels.”
Mr Pandey says the nature of financial fraud has evolved rapidly with increased digital access and social media penetration.
“We are seeing many types of fraud — online scams, fake apps and impersonations,” he says.
“SEBI actively monitors digital platforms for misleading content related to investments by finfluencers. Such content is escalated to social media platforms for being taken down,” he added.
He says that SEBI-regulated entities had been barred from associating with unregulated advisers on social media platforms.
Mr Pandey also referred to the 'SEBI vs SCAM' investor awareness campaign, which focuses on educating citizens about fake trading applications, deepfakes, illegal 'dabba trading', opinion trading and social media-based investment frauds.
“We believe that an informed investor is a protected investor,” he says.
The SEBI chairman outlined several recent initiatives aimed at making investing safer and more accessible.
These include validated UPI payment mechanisms to ensure investors transfer money only to genuine intermediaries, verification tools such as 'SEBI check' for authentication of intermediary bank accounts, integration with DigiLocker for secure access to financial holdings and simplified nomination procedures.
Mr Pandey says grievance redressal systems such as SCORES 2.0 and online dispute resolution mechanisms have made complaint resolution faster and more transparent.
He also highlighted the MITRA platform, which helps investors track inactive mutual fund folios, and 'niveshak shivirs' conducted with the Union ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) to help citizens reclaim dormant investments.
A centralised reporting system for nominee claims has also been introduced, enabling legal heirs to notify investor deaths through a single know-your-customer registration agency (KRA), thereby triggering updates across multiple intermediaries.
During his speech, Mr Pandey described Odisha as one of India’s fastest-growing states and says the state’s economic growth offered significant opportunities for retail investors.
“It has been my karmbhoomi for many decades,” he says, recalling his long administrative association with Odisha.
According to Mr Pandey, Odisha’s real gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to grow around 7.9% in FY25-26, higher than the national average of 7.4%, while the state’s manufacturing sector is expected to expand 8.3%.
He says Odisha’s per capita income had increased from around ₹65,000 in FY15-16 to about ₹1.9 lakh in FY25-26, registering compound annual growth of over 11%.
Mr Pandey noted that participation by investors from Odisha in the securities market had risen sharply over the past decade.
“The number of investors from Odisha in the securities market has grown more than ten times — from about 250,000 lakh in FY14-15 to 2.85mn (million) in FY25-26,” he says.
He added that around 1.5mn unique mutual fund investors from Odisha now held nearly 5.9mn folios with assets worth around ₹71,000 crore.
The SEBI chairman says India’s securities markets had expanded significantly over the last decade, driven by rising retail participation and growing trust in long-term investment products.
According to him, India’s market capitalisation had risen from around ₹95trn (trillion) in FY15-16 to nearly ₹463trn by April 2026.
The corporate bond market expanded from ₹20trn to about ₹59trn during the same period, while mutual fund assets under management surged from ₹12trn to nearly ₹82trn.
Mr Pandey says India now had around 145mn unique investors compared with just 38mn in FY18-19.
Monthly systematic investment plan (SIP) inflows have also increased sharply from about ₹3,000 crore in April 2016 to more than ₹31,000 crore in April 2026.
“Inclusive growth is the key challenge,” Mr Pandey says, citing SEBI’s Investor Survey 2025, which found that while 63% of Indian households are aware of securities market products, only 9.5% actually invested in them.
Participation in rural India remained particularly low at around 6%, compared with 15% in urban areas.
Mr Pandey also emphasised the importance of diversified financing channels such as equity, debt, REITs, InvITs and municipal bonds.
He says 22 urban local bodies across India had collectively raised more than ₹4,500 crore through 31 municipal bond issuances by the end of FY25-26.
“With wider participation, municipal bonds can evolve into a key pillar of funding for urban infrastructure in Odisha as well,” he says.
Encouraging first-time investors to begin with small investments through mutual funds and SIPs, Mr Pandey says wealth creation depended more on consistency and long-term discipline than the size of investments.
“You don’t need large savings to start. What matters is starting early and staying invested for the long term,” he added.
