BT Online Last Updated: April 6, 2017 | 17:11 IST
Fixed deposits (FDs) have emerged as the most preferred saving option, finds a Sebi survey. While more than 95 percent of the households prefer FDs, less than 10 percent opt to invest in mutual funds or stocks, a report on survey in The Times of India said.
Life Insurance is the second-most preferred option, followed by precious metals, post office savings instruments and real estate, says the survey. Mutual funds were ranked at sixth position (9.7 percent), followed by stocks (8.1%), pension schemes, company deposits, debentures, derivatives and commodity futures (1%) as investment vehicles for the urban households.
Among rural households, not even 1 percent of the surveyed were investors and even awareness about the mutual funds and equities was just dismal at just 1.4 percent.
On a brighter note, investor base in India is increasing, as about 75 percent of the respondents said they had participated in the securities markets for the first time in the last five years.
The survey finds that are a total of 3.37 crore investor households in India. Of these, 70% reside in urban areas. It has a sample size of 50,453 households.
