Sebi on why an investor must educate himself

Terming an 'educated investor as a protected investor', market regulator Sebi said on Friday that imparting education and disseminating information is necessary for developing an equity culture in the country.

"Securities and Exchange Board of India understands that educated investor is a protected investor," Sebi Chairman U K Sinha said in a message to the AFIE (Asian Forum of Investors Educations) Conference held in New Delhi.

Speaking at the event, Sebi whole time member Rajeev Kumar Agarwal said,"we can widen retail investors' base in the country by imparting education and disseminating information about the capital market."

The education would help investors in protecting them from volatility in the equity market and also reduce volatility in individual stocks.

Sebi chief Sinha, who could not attend the event in person, said in a written message that Sebi has had a multi-pronged

approach towards investor awareness, which includes empowering the current investors, converting savers into investors and "catching them young" by educating school children and college students.

The event was organised by Association of National Exchanges Members of India, which comprises of the trading members of all stock exchanges in the country, in partnership with Sebi and AFIE.

Sebi, which is mandated to protect the interest of investors, has been taking various measures in this regard.

Among the steps, Sebi has provided a dedicated email-id and toll free helpline number for investors in Hindi, English and 12 other regional languages.

Talking about inflows, Agarwal said," we have to reduce our dependence of capital inflows and become more resilient."

He said, "the country needs to channelise saving to more productive products as larger portion of the saving is going to gold."