Divine boon or cash transfers.

"The 2020-2025 period witnessed record-breaking wealth creation, with the 100 wealth creators adding a staggering Rs 148 trillion in market capitalisation." "During this time, wealth creation grew at a remarkable CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 38%, far outpacing the BSE Sensex's CAGR of 21%." ET. "India's initial public offerings have hit a record Rs 1.77 trillion ($19.6 billion), as companies rush to capture the booming investor demand for new shares." "Foreign institutional investors (FII), lured by the growth outlook and relatively stable policy backdrop, remain active participants in IPOs even as they sell an almost record amount of Indian equities." TOI. While investing in IPOs, "Foreign investors pulled out Rs 179.55 billion (USD 2 billion) from Indian equities in the first two weeks of this month, taking the total outflow to Rs 1.6 trillion (USD 18.4 billion) in 2025." "Meanwhile, in the debt market, FPIs (FIIs) withdrew Rs 3.10 billion under the general limit but invested Rs 1.51 billion through the voluntary retention route during the same period." ET. The combined FII selloff and the lack of a trade deal with the US has resulted in the rupee falling to an all-time low of 90.82 to one dollar (xe.com), despite the dollar index falling 1.1% in December. "The index is also down more than 9% this year, on pace for its steepest annual drop since 2017. (Mint). The Nifty may have delivered 10% gains in 2025 but, "India was the worst performing major market globally this year in dollar terms, and has among the most underweight positions in global portfolios." "FII ownership of the Indian equity markets fell to a 15-month low of 16.9% in Q2 FY26 (Jul-Sep)," but "Taken together with mutual funds, individual investors, now account for 18.75% of listed equities - the highest in 22 years," wrote Abhishek Mukherjee. "Retail investors, desperate for quick wealth, are progressively sacrificing their financial security," wrote Dhirendra Kumar. "First goes the emergency fund, which is risked in futures and options (F&)) trading. Next, the children's education corpus gets diverted into speculative cryptocurrency investments. Retirement savings follow...Insurance policies are surrendered, gold is sold and loans are taken ... in the hope of obtaining that elusive divine boon of instant wealth." The bull run in stocks is explained by market buoyancy but it is actually because of very low returns on bank deposits. Till November the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had cut interest rates by a cumulative 100 basis points in 2025 (Reuters), so that the "State Bank of India offers 6.25% for a 1-year deposit, which after adjusting for taxes and inflation, leaves a minuscule yield on the table." No wonder, household financial assets have declined from 49.7% in 2011-12 to 38.3% in 2023-24, while investments in equity and mutual funds have jumped from 12.8% to 26.8%, wrote Rajrishi Sanghal. Veteran investor Shankar Sharma said that this bull market is the biggest transfer of cash from the poor to the rich, but it is still better than investing in F&O. At least long term returns will be good. Mint. What if there is a 20-30% drop in stock prices? Will individual investors lose a lot of money? Hope it happens one month before an election. Cash transfers all round. Instant wealth.