The securities and exchange board of India chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Monday said India’s growth story must be measured not only by stronger GDP numbers and infrastructure build-out, but by how effectively that growth is converted into investment opportunities and wealth creation for households through capital markets. Addressing the ICICI Securities India Investor Conference 2026, Pandey said, “India’s growth story today is not just about economic expansion. It is about formalisation. It is about the financialisation of savings. And importantly, it is about trust in institutions”.

Pandey said India remained one of the fastest-growing major economies even as geopolitical tensions in West Asia, inflation risks, trade disruptions and exchange-rate pressures continued to cloud the global outlook. He said India’s growth was being supported by domestic consumption, public investment and improving private sector participation, while digital public infrastructure, transport connectivity and clean energy capacity were strengthening the country’s long-term economic foundation.

Growth must become investment

The Sebi chief said economic expansion by itself was insufficient unless it translated into broader prosperity through the financial system. “Growth alone does not create prosperity. Growth must translate into opportunity. Opportunity into investment. And investment into wealth creation,” Pandey said.

He described capital markets as central to that transition, saying they were “not merely reflecting India’s growth—they are enabling it” by linking household savings with enterprise and converting economic momentum into investable assets. The remarks stress Sebi’s attempt to place market development at the centre of India’s broader economic story, especially at a time when household participation in equities, mutual funds and other financial instruments is expanding steadily.

Strong market depth

Pandey backed his argument with a series of market indicators, saying equity issuance in FY26 crossed ₹4.5 lakh crore, while 366 IPOs together raised about ₹1.9 lakh crore. He added that corporate bond issuances exceeded ₹9 lakh, market capitalisation had risen from 69% of GDP a decade ago to about 128% now, and alternative investment fund investments had grown more than five-fold in recent years.

According to Pandey, India now has around 145 million investors in the securities market, with the investor base growing at over 20% annually. He also said mutual fund assets had expanded from ₹12 lakh crore to over ₹80 lakh crore, while household financial savings to GDP rose to 21.7% in FY25 from about 20% in FY23. “Capital markets are increasingly becoming a core avenue for household savings and wealth creation,” he said.

Pandey said Sebi’s regulatory approach remained focused on what he called “optimum regulation” — a framework that protects investors, preserves market integrity and enables growth. He said the regulator had reduced IPO timelines, made rights issues faster, rationalised listing norms, and broadened anchor investor participation to deepen institutional demand.

On the debt side, he said the electronic book provider platform had been expanded to include REIT and InvIT issuances, while Sebi was also working on a market-making framework for corporate bonds and corporate bond index derivatives in coordination with the Reserve Bank of India. He also pointed to measures aimed at easing foreign portfolio investor access, including the SWAGAT single-window onboarding framework, simplified documentation and efforts to reduce registration timelines.

Investor trust at the centre

Pandey said the rapid broadening of India’s investor base placed greater responsibility on intermediaries, especially stock brokers, who often serve as the first point of contact for retail participants. “Because ultimately, investors experience the market through intermediaries,” he said, while stressing the need for robust KYC, fraud prevention, transparent service and avoidance of mis-selling and conflicts of interest.

Looking ahead, Pandey said Sebi was reviewing variable net worth requirements for brokers, examining improvements in price discovery through the pre-open call auction mechanism for IPOs and relisted securities, and considering easier compliance norms for research analysts. He said the regulator was also proposing a more practical framework for mutual funds to use intraday borrowing to manage temporary liquidity mismatches.

Framing the investor as the ultimate focus of regulation, Pandey said, “If the investor feels informed, protected, and fairly treated, confidence will follow… participation will deepen… and markets will continue to grow on a strong and sustainable foundation”.