It is also home to a vibrant capital market. The market capitalization of its listed companies at the end of 2025 stood at 4.75 trillion US Dollars.

India is also a young country. 65% of its population of 1.4 billion is below the age of 35.

The trifecta of economic growth, world class capital markets and a young population with access to technology has enabled breakneck growth, in the number of Indians investing in Indian equity markets via mutual funds and stock purchases.

The number of mutual fund investors in India was 2.08 crores at the end of year 2020. This number stood at 5.9 crores at the end of year 2025.

The number of Demat accounts in India stood at 4.98 crores at the end of year 2020 this number had grown to 21.59 crores by the end of year 2025.

In April 2026, Indians invested Rs 38.4 thousand crores in Indian equity markets through mutual funds.

I have been an investment adviser to individuals and institutional investors for almost 17 years now and have had front row seats as this growth has played out.

I have also had the chance to interact with investors in tier 2, tier 3 towns in India and I am also witness to the phenomenon of ‘fin-influencers’.

Fin-influencers are freelance financial advisers offering easy money schemes and ways of attaining Financial Independence and Retiring Early (FIRE) through their YouTube channels and Instagram handles.

Their channels have millions of subscribers and their videos and reels get tens of millions of views.

Viewers of these channels take home answers to the holy grail of all questions -How much money is enough to retire?

How much is enough for you to leave your job, move to a small town and spend your time tendering to your kitchen garden?

How much money do you need for you to leave your job, pack your bags and open a cafe in Dharmashala/Goa/Cochin or Tuticorin?

If you don’t like the figure, help is at hand. Viewers are given formulas to arrive at their own answers.

I have no data to prove how successful or unsuccessful fin-influencers have been in helping people achieve FIRE.

However we do have data on how Indians are investing in the derivative segment of Indian stock markets faring!

Derivative instruments are used by investors to manage risk and by speculators to make quick money.

If I want to run a cafe in Dehradun before I turn forty, my salaried job wouldn’t do.

I need to make money fast.

Enter a digital stack that lets me do derivative trades as easily as ordering a pizza online, an oversupply of ‘trade strategies’ and access to cheapest cellular data in the world.

I can now watch YouTube videos all day and ‘hone my trading skills’.

SEBI, regulator of capital markets in India, conducted a study and published a note in 2024.

The study revealed 93% of individual traders incurred losses in equity derivatives between financial years 2022 and 2024.

The aggregate losses of these traders for this three year period exceeded Rs 1.8 lakh crores.

To put the figure in perspective, the Government of India’s budgetary allocation to its Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in FY 2024 was Rs 80.5 thousand crores.

As part of my job, I am often asked- what is the rate of return one should expect from a growth oriented portfolio? My answer invariably disappoints because it does not augment dreams of early retirement.

I learnt, from some of the best investors and fund managers-investing is like watching paint dry.

My job and my experience of investing my own money have convinced me that is the only way.

There are no short cuts to financial freedom.

This book is my attempt at conveying a framework that has stood the test of time and helped people live better. 

The book has no magic formulas and final figures.

No silver bullets that will ease the path to a cake and coffee shop in Almora.

If the world is watching YouTube, why write a book ?

I believe a reader gets more out of the content than a viewer.

Physical and financial health are keys to our sense of well being and confidence. They make our world go around. The book is my attempt at making investing accessible and relatable.

If you end up reading the book, please let me know if I got it right.

The book is now available on Amazon and Kindle

Yes, he is talking of theater but you can easily replace theater with cinema. The leading lights of Hindi cinema in the years after independence were members of India People’s Theater Association (IPTA). Here is the wikipedia entry on IPTA

What is Pakistan and what is its army like ?

Pakistan was created in 1947 when the British ended their colonial rule over the sub-continent and split on religious lines. It is a culmination of Muslim League’s campaign for a separate Muslim nation. The league and its supporters considered Hindus and Muslims incapable of living together in harmony. It is a well thought out idea of a nation for Muslims. Here are links to two podcasts that will tell you more about the idea of Pakistan.

Creating a New Medina

Omar Ali on Pakistan Myths and Realities

The founders of Pakistan and those who have followed them have kept their word. Non-Muslims cannot hold top constitutional positions. Religious minorities make up for less than 5% of Pakistan’s population and the non Islamic parts of its history are absent from its cultural milieu. It has a blasphemy law on its statutes and in a 2010 Pew Poll 87% Pakistanis identify as “Muslims First” over nationality.

The highest amongst surveyed Muslim countries. Its 1973 constitution declares Islam as state religion. Pakistan is and for Islam. Pakistan frames its identity against ‘Hindu India’. Individual acts of graciousness that one may have encountered or heard of, do not change this reality.

Pakistan’s army is its foremost institution. Its outsized role in running the country is well documented. The saying- Pakistan is an army with a country attached to it exists for sound reasons. What was this army up to weeks and months before Brigadier Nasir’s exchange with Lieutenant Khetarpal? It was slaughtering Bengali Hindus in East Pakistan. Pick up this book, it is essential reading on Pakistan army.

Next time you hear the dialogue “Kaun Dushman” spare a thought for parents of Captain Saurabh Kalia

The motto of the Pakistan army is Faith, Piety, and Fighting in the way of Allah. Its role in fomenting Jihad in Kashmir and birthing and nurturing the Taliban is well documented. An individual officer’s behaviour is not what the institution stands for. Here is its chief laying out its vision and its core ideology.

It is the gap between the reality of India and Pakistan and what its army stands for that makes Ikkis a failed propaganda tool. In the age of social media, it is impossible to hide the truth and talk of Aman ki Asha. Raghavan is not helped by the caricaturesque nature of other characters in the movie and the mediocre performances of actors portraying those characters. Shri Raghavan if you want to make a war movie, don’t let your politics overshadow it. Just give us its brutality and futility. If you want us to join the Aman ki Asha write a more believable story.

If you want us to believe India and Pakistan are the same, do pass on whatever you are smoking. 

Another Browncast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above!

KJ took a dip at the Triveni Sangam, here he is in  conversation with Dr Omar Ali and Maneesh on what was the experience like. His travels across Lucknow and Varanasi make an appearance too. We conclude the episode with a hat tip to the greatest Indian Dessert.

Prayagraj

Another Browncast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above!

Omar, Mukunda, Maneesh, Gaurav and KJ have a freewheeling chat on the upcoming elections in India.

The Brown Pundits stick to the prevailing consensus, they don’t see NDA losing this election. View from California and Rawalpindi. A BP bets his shirt on the outcome in one particular state. We wrap up the episode with thoughts on the coverage of India in the western media.

Dr Omar Ali joins me and we talk to K Jayaraman (KJ) on political movements and politics in Tamil Nadu.

KJ talks about the origin of the Dravidian movement, the evolution of the movement to a political force, the decline of Congress and BJP’s chances in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

I spent five days in China, a first visit to the mainland.

My first visit to a country I have read about, is a mix of fact checks, search for stereotypes and surprises.

I visited two cities Shanghai and Beijing, and did not get a chance to speak to as many locals I would have liked to.

Some observations and musings from the trip.

Time to get the obvious out of the way- It is a large country and what I saw, is akin to a pothole in an ocean. None the less here goes.

The scale and quality of hard, physical infrastructure is imposing. The maglev train from Shanghai’s Pudong international airport, the orderly never-ending traffic on endless roads that crisscross Shanghai and Beijing, the extensive metro network, the omnipresent taxis- regular and via the cab hailing app and the digital ecosystem of Universal apps- WeChat and Alipay. The high-speed railway that takes you from Shanghai to Beijing- a journey of about 1300 kilometers in four and a half hours. Movement of people and information is fast. That it happens at a scale unmatched anywhere else in the world and the time in which this whole infrastructure has been built- is awe inspiring.

The state is everywhere, it is watching you from cameras in every corner but you do not see the state.  No hoardings that tell you about the Chinese communist party or of one Xi Jinping. No cops on the roads, especially true for Shanghai.  The state is unobtrusive. It knows where you are and what are you up to but all you get is the power of the state capacity- well organized and clean super cities. You live the force of state capacity but do not get to see the state.

Talking of hoardings, you do not see commercial ones nudging you to buy that new car or an apartment or the latest…. (Insert shoe/ phone/ perfume/bag). All outdoor advertising is on the facades of the stores and even there it looks understated. Miles and miles of roads without outdoor advertising takes getting use to, if one has landed from Delhi.

Labour is abundant and female participation is high. There are apps for food and groceries delivery at your doorstep. Delivery staff ride electric two wheelers, that make no sound, and sneak up on you.

Two wheelers, their riders young and old, men and women, abound. The only reckless driving seen in the cities is on two wheelers. Women work in retail and hospitality. They can be found behind immigration counters and at airport security. One place I did not see them was driving taxis. Not one, I hailed multiple taxis in both cities. Never found a woman behind the wheels. Every other job, you see them.

No overt religiosity. The Chinese have done away with the god(s). No places of worship, no congregations, no religious motifs in shops and commercial establishments. To paraphrase a local- money is our god and making money our religion. When asked how does he make peace with the uncertainties and unfairness of life, he answers- by making more money.  Make money and spend money. How do I look, what am I wearing, what am I driving and where am I living? Who needs gods.

Tech has taken care of the language barrier. Get online and use an app that translates and one can get around and engage. Even the cops posted at Tiananmen square indulge your queries.

Lots of youngsters and a few kids. From airports, railway stations to public spaces, the first line of the state machinery is young. No middle-aged potbellied cops and ticket inspectors. You can see the one child policy at work. A child with two sets of grandparents and her adoring parents. Wealth accumulated by six adults being spent on one child.

No Caucasians, no Indians and the rich of the middle east are also missing. Two of the largest cities of in the second largest economy of the world. A country whose presence is felt in every nation and the world is not visiting its cities. No sign of large expat communities. No watering joints that are popular with Americans or Europeans. The weather was not the best for tourism but who is running the Europeans factories and the American banks. Guessing they went home for the Christmas break but are the Caucasians rare or what. The Africans are invisible. Not one African face in 5 days in China’s oldest and biggest cities. Not one.

China is a great example of what state capacity can do. A densely populated country that has been around for millennia, has transformed itself within four decades without hitting the jackpot of a natural bounty. Those running the country did not seek wisdom of the crowds by holding elections/referendums. The economic transformation was forced upon its people. Economic prosperity in exchange of political choice. The state derives its legitimacy from outcomes. That it does not indulge opposition does not make it unaccountable. The nameless and faceless bureaucrats who have built China in the last 40 years- no noble prize-winning economists or Chicago University professors there, have lifted millions out of poverty and within a generation delivered a quality of life most of us will never experience. The scale of transformation is unprecedented in Human history and as an Indian, one cannot but admire and grudge it.

What I would like to know is how they got an ancient civilization to let go of its past, how did they bulldoze consumerism and materialism through societal networks that had evolved over centuries- how did they do away with God.

What did the Chinese Communist party do to retain legitimacy as it pivoted from ideas like collective farming to allowing a tech and finance led millionaire class to flourish within a generation. Perhaps another trip calls.

Is the Chinese model replicable and should we try and replicate it in India.

The Chinese model is not unique and they are not the first ones to pull it off. Sustained economic growth for long periods has always needed some kind of labour and financial repression combined with protectionist trade policies.  All the developed economies of today have indulged in both at some point in their growth trajectory.

Letting a small set of people decide the economic fate of millions is high risk strategy. If the elite are not good enough, the scale of failure is catastrophic. China from 1949 to 1979 is a good example of the magnitude of that disaster.

The result has too many variables we do not understand to give us a templet. Which brings us to the process. In India the state gets it is legitimacy through the process of its election. To forego that for a bet that the unelected elite will deliver on outcomes- think of the political party you loathe and now think of that party always being in power and is unable to deliver on outcomes. Let us stumble along I say.

Arun talks to Maneesh on the history and evolution of Malayalam cinema.

What makes Malayalam cinema different from Tamil and Telegu cinema, the influence of communism on its early years and how the OTT phenomenon is helping a generation of film makers take Malayalam cinema to a new audience.

We may have ended up with a discussion that will fail to get past the existing beliefs of most listeners. I hope we will try again in the future and as is the case with all complicated arguments, it may become clearer with repetition and rejigging. For now, take my advice from late in this podcast and see what happens if you suspend judgment and give the arguments a chance… Also see the articles and books linked at the end.

Another Browncast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above!

Dr Prakash Shah, Reader in Culture and Law at School of Law Queen Mary University of London, talks to Dr Ali on the framework of studying caste in India and it’s colonial antecedents.

A list of publications from Prakash Shah and associates can be found here. 

A long talk from Prakash Shah on this topic may give more background:

Chitra Iyer, Co-founder and CEO of Space2Grow, talks to Maneesh about Anti Child Trafficking, Digital Safety and making  Indians employable.

You can read more about Space2Grow on:

Website : www.space2grow.in
LinkedIn  – Space 2 Grow (https://www.linkedin.com/company/space-2-grow/)
Facebook – Space2grow (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064233876263)
Twitter – space2grow_llp (https://twitter.com/space2grow_llp)

Another Browncast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above!

Shrikanth talks to Maneesh about the History of South India post Vijayanagar kingdom till the year 1857.  He talks about the varies polities, their interactions and the Europeans among other facets that shaped the history of Deccan.

He wraps up the episode with the socio-cultural legacy of this period.

Sources and References: