The young takes to D-Street in a big way | Economic Times

ET Intelligence Group: To college kids — and those just graduating — D-Street in downtown Mumbai increasingly appears more alluring than the bewitching Ghats in the monsoons. And they seem rather surefooted in the world of equity investing, one their parents considered too slippery and complex to explore.Take Khandekar junior, for instance. His father, Dilip, was rather surprised recently to learn that his son, barely 20, has made a handsome profit of about Rs 15,000 on a set of blue-chip stocks he bought after the March trough.He belongs to this new ‘breed’ of young and not-so-mature investors who believe in the philosophy of harnessing the information they gather instead of just storing it. In a country like India, where half the population is aged below 35, they are beginning to make their presence felt. Data compiled by five brokerages show that the portfolio size of young investors — just out of college — has nearly trebled to Rs 75,000-1 lakh in the past two years.Factors such as symmetry in information access, availability of resources to learn fundamentals and informative television web-series, and the ease of demat account operations have drawn young investors to the markets from all parts of the country.The average age for Indian investors has been declining in the past few months, suggesting that more youngsters are buying into equities. Nikhil Kamath, co-founder at True Beacon, said the average age of investors has come to about 30. There is a significant presence of investors aged 25 and below, with average ticket size of Rs 80,000. Quick LearnersInterestingly, the investment traits and styles of these young investors are quite structured. Their approach toward money is defined from the fact that they invest to make money. They do not invest to preserve their money from taxes or for future requirements. Bangalore-based MBA student Atreya Das, 22, invests in companies that have a moat premium — applying to sectors with high barriers to entry.He was inspired to invest by reading bestseller Rich Dad and Poor Dad and books of Guy Cohen. He has Asian Paints (beneficiary of the moat theory) and Shree Cements as two top investments in his portfolio. To find more options, he reads annual reports regularly. The funds required for his investments come from stipends (about Rs 5,000 a month) and small contributions from his father. Today, the value of his portfolio is close to Rs 3 lakh.Mumbai-based Vidit Pandya, 21, has adopted the SIP method to buy blue-chip stocks after his first experience of investing in IPOs yielded below-par returns. He has invested about Rs 1,000 every month from proceeds from a ULIP policy. Inspired by the investment style and stock picking technique of Warren Buffett, Vidit’s top picks are SBI Cards, and is considering an investment into Tata Consumer. A couple of web series on the OTT platforms and movies such as Big Short have inspired Vidit to increase its exposure to equities.