Flagging a visible slowdown in investor inflows alongside rising geopolitical uncertainty, Vijay Chandok, managing director and CEO of National Securities Depository Limited, told NDTV Profit that the near-term market conditions remain difficult to assess.
Chandok said the industry is clearly witnessing weakness in new investor participation, reflecting softer sentiment at the margins even as volatility persists. He added that the evolving global backdrop is making it challenging to gauge the trajectory of markets in the immediate future.
“When you think of it in the immediacy of the future, there is so much of geopolitical uncertainty. And the impact of the geopolitical uncertainty is also uncertain. How deep, how long... short-term prospects one would be finding it difficult to make a sort of an assessment,” Chandok said in an exclusive interaction.
Despite near-term headwinds, he struck a more constructive tone on the medium-term outlook. “Over the medium term, I believe resilience remains quite strong,” he said, pointing to underlying strength in the market ecosystem.
On NSDL's business model, Chandok emphasised its long-term orientation and relative insulation from market swings. “We need to understand that our MII business is not a quarter-to-quarter business. It's a long-term business. Strong moats,” he said.
He added that a large share of revenues is recurring in nature, with limited exposure to market-linked streams. “Settlement fees is the only fee which is linked with markets... always you will find in a downturn, we get impacted less than competition,” he noted.
Looking ahead, Chandok highlighted a strong pipeline of mandates as a key growth driver, though execution and scaling take time. “I would say that the runway for growth is enormous. We are winning mandates. Those mandates take time to integrate,” he said.
“So, I'm very optimistic about the future, actually,” he added, reinforcing confidence in NSDL's long-term growth trajectory despite near-term uncertainties.
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