Need more professional regulation of financial markets: Congress

The Congress on Thursday, 20 February, stressed the need for professional regulation of financial markets with a "total overhaul" of SEBI and called for a relentless focus on global manufacturing ecosystems across the technology spectrum to carve out niches for India.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh shared a media report on X which quoted founder and director, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Uday Kotak, as saying that over-financialisation can hurt the Indian economy as investors move their savings into equities without understanding valuations.

He made the remarks while expressing concern on over-financialisation.

"India's stock market capitalisation currently stands at approximately 140 percent of its GDP. On September 2nd, 2024, the chief economic adviser in the Ministry of Finance had warned that the growing profitability of the financial sector and high levels of market capitalization require closer scrutiny," Ramesh said on X.

"When the market becomes bigger than the economy, it is natural, but not necessarily reasonable, that the market's considerations dominate public discourse and influence policy," Ramesh quoted the CEA as having said.

Now comes a similar opinion from one of the most respected names of India's financial world, Uday Kotak, the Congress leader said.

"He (Kotak) has warned that over-financialisation can hurt the Indian economy as investors move their savings into equities without understanding valuations," Ramesh said.

"We need more professional regulation of our financial markets. SEBI needs a total overhaul," he said.

"We also need a relentless focus on global manufacturing ecosystems across the technology spectrum to carve out niches for India. It is still not too late," Ramesh added.