Current Bull Market A 'Poor-To-Rich Cash Transfer', But Still Better Than F&O — Shankar Sharma Explains

Market analyst and investor Shankar Sharma shared his view on the contemporary conditions of the Indian stock market, terming the current bull run "as the biggest cash transfer from the poor to the rich".

Promoters, founders, venture capitalists, private equity firms, and asset and wealth managers are the top beneficiaries of this bull run, according to Sharma, the founder of GQuant FinXray.

However, retail investors will also benefit from this bull run in the long-run, as the stocks and mutual fund units that they have accumulated will eventually give notable returns, he added.

Sharma's comments come in light of 2025 being a record-breaking year for fundraises via IPOs. However, most of the public issuances have been dominated by offer for sales, as promoters or early investors looked to monetise their investments.

According to Prime Database, Rs 97,059 crore was mobilised via OFS, the highest ever, compared to Rs 57,256 crore through fresh issues. The total fundraising stood at Rs 1,54,316 crore, making 2025 one of the strongest years for IPO activity.

According to Sharma, this trend is still better than retail investors losing their money in futures and options trading.

"The cash transfer to F&O brokers who built market cap, cash piles, from commissions from (overwhelmingly) losing traders, remains an irreparable, non-returnable, non-recoverable wealth transfer. It's a "permanent loss of capital" type transfer (sic)," the analyst stated.

A study conducted by Securities and Exchange Board of India on F&O trading backs Sharma's claims. The study revealed that 91% of individual traders incurred losses in futures and options trading in fiscal year 2025. This reflected a similar trend related to F&O trade which the market watchdog had observed in its previous study.