Social media is booming globally andIndiais no exception. In fact a recent survey done by SMC Capitals clearly shows that most Indians are keen to know more about social networking sites than stock markets.
The study shows that there are approximately 3.1 crore active users on social networking sites and the most popular ones are Facebook, Orkut and Twitter. On the other hand there are only just 1.7 crore people who hold Demat accounts.
In simple words the number of users, in social networking websites are twice in total than Demat account holders. Social observers feel the growth in social media is phenomenal especially when one considers the fact that social networking concept has been around for only three years. Most of these users are active as compared to Demat where most users are non active investors who do not have much interest in public offers and even mutual funds.
It seems while Indians are confidently entering the social media arena they are shying away from investing in the market. As per market leaders there is indeed low level of penetration of the investing habit inIndia.
India however does not seem to shy from other lifestyle habits and this includes getting new mobile connections- every month two core new mobile connections are taken but the number of Demat account holders is merely two lakh which is around 100 times lower. A major reason for this is around 60 % of the country’s population is below 30 years and so have taken to concept like mobile buying and social media – however investment still remains a concept under wraps.
To sum up while consumer in India has opened up, the investor still has a long way to go.
