At the big CII Financing Summit on Monday, Chief Economic Advisor Anantha Nageswaran dropped a financial bombshell. He said, "India’s equity markets have grown impressively, but initial public offerings have increasingly become exit vehicles for early investors, rather than mechanisms for raising long-term capital." Imagine that! IPOs, meant to bring fresh money into businesses, are now just fancy ways for early investors to run off with their earnings. Nageswaran warned, "This undermines the spirit of public markets. India cannot rely predominantly on bank credit for long-horizon financing." He also added a spicy warning about the financial world’s illusions: "We must guard against celebrating the wrong milestones, such as market-compensation ratios or the volumes of derivatives traded. These are not measures of financial sophistication. They only risk diverting domestic savings away from productive investment." So, don’t be fooled by those flashy numbers in the market! Later, SEBI chairperson Tuhin Kanta Pandey stepped in with his own take on the whirlwind of market chatter. He called public market activity just "business-as-usual" and said, "markets needed all types of capital being raised." About the confusing world of derivatives, Pandey explained, "I would like to say that the changes that SEBI made to the rules, they also changed the metrics. The open interest which was there earlier, we brought it to delta and it is weighted from delta and they were talking about premium versus open interest." Wrapping up the intense discussions, Nageswaran gave a reality check, saying India can’t just dream big and celebrate too soon. "Aspirations alone are not enough and must avoid the temptation to celebrate prematurely when the road ahead is long," he said. The message is clear: India’s financial journey is far from over and requires smarter moves, not just flashy numbers. Published - November 17, 2025 09:31 pm IST