Indian market has maintained a certain level of prudence: Nirmala Sitharaman – Dainik Savera Times

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that despite huge fluctuations globally, the Indian stock market has maintained a certain level of sanity and the market should be allowed to play its own way. The Finance Minister’s statement comes days after SEBI Chairperson Madhavi Puri Buch said that there is scope for ‘froth’ in smallcap and midcap stocks and the regulator is considering it for coming out with a possible consultation paper.

Speaking at the India Today Conclave, Sitharaman said, “I let the markets play their way… We should leave it to the wisdom of the market because we all have seen that despite huge fluctuations globally, the Indian market has behaved wisely.” A certain level is maintained. It hasn’t really been too violent one way or the other. So, I trust the market a lot. Earlier this week, the capital markets regulator had raised concerns about overvaluation of smallcap and midcap stocks. Smallcaps and midcaps were indicating potential market manipulation and market bubble risks.

Buch had said, there are some areas of foam in the smallcap and midcap sector in the equity markets which have the potential to form a bubble and burst which could impact investors. On crypto assets, Sitharaman said that they cannot be currencies and this is the stand of the Indian government. He said that currencies are issued by the government or the central bank. He said crypto assets are technology-driven and impact cross-border payments. He said a comprehensive regulatory framework around such assets has been considered at the G20 level.

The Finance Minister said, that if one country regulates and others do not, it will be an easier way to move money, round-tripping or financing drugs or even terrorism. Therefore, we wanted to take it to the G20 level and create a framework. It has been very well received and I am sure some framework will emerge.