Akshay Agarwal, Managing Director, Acumen Capital Markets called upon students to build a career in the financial markets as it offers them a good future to those with varying talents.
The regulators of the capital markets are offering various specialised courses for availing a job in the stock markets, he told the student community at the Business Line Club lecture organised at the Adi Shankara Institute of Engineering and Technology at Kalady near here on Friday.
Aimed at increasing awareness among a student community on the verge of setting up a new career, he also stressed the need to start investing early in life.
Agarwal said he himself was baptised into capital markets in his early college days and said it’s better to invest early as both growth prospects and risk-bearing capacities favour of a young investor.
Capital markets, according to him, offered higher returns historically than other investment options. It is the most regulated market thanks to the guidelines by Securities and Exchange Board of India.
He stressed the need to invest in a good, diversified basket of assets that include not just fixed deposits, but also shares, commodities, insurance, and mutual funds.
Investing early also makes compounding a portfolio possible, helping the money grow much faster. Often, this makes all the difference in times of need.
He also elaborated on the various types of investments, the risk and reward ratios, historical returns, advantages and disadvantages of each of the asset class, and dealt with how to build an ideal portfolio, learning the difference between saving instruments and growth investments.
However, he cautioned students of the risks involved in investing in shares and advised the audience to invest only after analysing a particular company. “There is a need to get information about a company before investing in it,” he emphasised.
Agarwal also called for efforts to attract more investors into stocks, as only about 1.25 per cent of the population is currently exposed to it. The figure is 40-45 per cent in developed countries.
He also inaugurated ‘Artha’ (Finance Club) in the college in the presence of S. G. Iyer, the Principal of the Institute.
Earlier, K. P. Narayanan, Assistant Regional General Manager of The Hindu in Kochi welcomed the gathering.