Nirmala Sitharaman Speaks On Retail Investors, Rate Hike And Blockchain: 10 Points
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that the recent decision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to hike key policy interest rates is a part of the synchronised event by the central banks globally.
- "It (rate hike) came as a surprise because it came between the two monetary policy reviews," she said.
- While attending an event the same day, the Finance Minister flagged anonymity as an "inherent risk" in blockchain technology and called for taking precaution in future with a rise in the use of this technology.
- “The anonymity is what ... one unknown element in this whole thing. The anonymity of the person or whoever or the robot is the one which we have to be absolutely readying ourselves as … a future challenge,” Ms Sitharaman said according to a PTI report.
- The Finance Minister made it clear that using the distributed ledger technology (DLT), which is also called as blockchain, is “absolutely imperative” and the Government also supports the use of the same.
- Terming anonymity as a “powerful imponderable” in the whole equation, Ms Sitharaman said, "unless we are able to guard ourselves against that anonymous element which can itself pose an inherent risk, we probably will be exposing ourselves much more than ever we would have imagined."
- On the recent volatility seen in the Indian stock markets, the Finance Minister said that retail investors have played a key role in the markets in the last two years, especially acting as shock absorbers in difficult times.
- "Indian retail investors have played a key role especially during the last two years; they have shown the world what they can do by standing up and becoming shock absorbers, unlike foreign portfolio investors (FPIs)," Ms Sitharaman said while addressing the silver jubilee celebration of the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).
- "From an average of 4 lakh new demat accounts opened every month in 2019-20, it tripled to 12 lakh per month in 2020-21 and has further increased to around 26 lakh per month in 2021-22," Ms Sitharaman said during the event.
- Her comments came as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have emerged as net sellers in recent weeks. In the first week of May, foreign portfolio investors pulled out Rs 6,417 crore from the Indian stock markets.
-
One El Nino, India Can Handle. Two Could Break The Granary
India's grain stocks can absorb one bad year, but a second El Nino could drain the buffer in two to three years, economists say.
-
India's Troika Of Good Luck | Joining The Dots
As Jensen Huang's exit drags Nvidia down, a cooling AI trade and resilient earnings have revived investor interest in India. A likely RBI rate hike looms.
-
Talking Points This Week: Leadership Shock At Nvidia, Earnings Strength, And The Fog Over Hormuz
The Anthropic IPO pricing and first trading day, Nvidia's upcoming earnings, and any fresh signals from Iran will set the tone for the following week.
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
