CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE TOWARDS VARIOUS INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN THE MARKET

Abstract

The study examines the consumer perception towards investment avenues in the current scenario in India and the factors influencing their choices. India’s investment scenario has changed quite a bit in the last decade or so. Most households earlier were dependent on fixed deposits, gold or some basic small-savings schemes. Today, the talk is of mutual funds, equity shares, exchange traded funds, government schemes like PPF and NPS, even cryptocurrency. The question is whether this broadening of choice has been translated into informed choice or whether much of it is still driven by familiarity, peer influence and short- term thinking. The study is descriptive in nature and is based on primary data collected through a structured questionnaire. The data was collected from fifty respondents belonging to different age groups, occupations and income levels. The questionnaire was divided into six broad sections including demographic profile, current investment behaviour, preference of instrument, decision factors, role of digital platform and finfluencers and lastly concernedness and perceptions of risk by consumers. Finding of the study indicate certain definite trends. The sample already has an investment in any kind and most of them prefer mutual funds and equity stocks. The age group of 26-35 years is more preferable. The most significant decision factor is the returns, although a significant percentage of respondents emphasize much on the safety of capital. Online advisory is only moderately credible and opinion is shaped conditionally and not universally by finfluencer content. Lack of knowledge and fear of being defrauded, particularly to the first-time investor is the two largest impediments in making more people get involved.

The report ends with some practical suggestions to the providers of financial services, their advisers and policy makers. The bigger implication is that the Indian investor is getting used to market-linked products, but there are still vacuums in the knowledge to journey concisely to confident participation which the industry has to fill with improved education, clarity and ease of products.