Indian Capital Market: Understand their concept by Nature, Classification, Growth, and Development!

What does the Capital Market mean? The capital market is a market which deals in long-term loans. It supplies industry with fixed and working capital and finances medium-term and long-term borrowings of the central, state and local governments. The Capital Market functions through the stock exchange market. A stock exchange is a market which facilitates buying and selling of shares, stocks, bonds, securities, and debentures. The capital market deals in ordinary stock are shares and debentures of corporations, and bonds and securities of governments. So, what is the topic we are going to discuss; Indian Capital Market: Understand their concept by Nature, Classification, Growth, and Development!

Here are explained; Indian Capital Market: The Concept of Market understand by their Nature, Classification, Growth, and Development!

The capital market plays an important role in immobilizing saving and channel is in them into productive investments for the development of commerce and industry. It is not only a market for old securities and shares but also for new issues shares and securities. In fact, the capital market is related to the supply and demand for new capital, and the stock exchange facilitates such transactions.

Thus the capital market comprises the complex of institutions and mechanisms through which medium-term funds and long­-term funds are pooled and made available to individuals, business and governments. It also encompasses the process by which securities already outstanding are transferred.

Nature of Indian Capital Market:

Like the money market, capital market in In­dia is dichotomized into organized and unor­ganised components. The institution of the stock exchange is an im­portant component of the capital market through which both new issues of securities are made and old issues of securities are pur­chased and sold. The former is called the “new issues market” and the latter is the “old issues market”. The stock exchange is, thus, a specialist market place to facilitate the exchanges of old securities. It is known as a “secondary market” for securities.

The stock exchange dealings for “listed” securities are made in an open auction market where buyers and sellers from all over the country meet. There is a well-defined code of bye-laws according to which these dealings take place and complete publicity is given to every transaction. As far as the primary mar­ket or new issues market is concerned, it is the public limited companies instead of a stock market that deals in “old issues” that raises funds through the issuance of shares, bonds, debentures, etc. However, to conduct this busi­ness, the services of specialized institutions like underwriters and stockbrokers, merchant banks are required.

The capital market in India is divided into the gilt-edged market and the industrial securities market. The gilt-edged market refers to the market for Govt. and semi-govt. securities. The industrial securities market refers to the market for equities and deben­tures of companies.

The industrial securities mar­ket is further divided into:

• New issues market, and.
• Old capital market.

Both markets are equally important but often the new issue market is much more important from the point of economic growth. Economic liberalization provides a strong stimulus to the security market. There is a tremen­dous growth in the number of issues, the amount raised, listed companies, listed stock, market turno­ver, and capitalization etc. Security market wit­nessed steep rising curve in the decades of 80s.

Many new financial instruments were introduced; new institutions like Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd, National Stock Exchange, Over the Coun­ter Exchange of India Ltd. etc. were created. Further, various steps were taken to protect the interests of investors and streamlining the trading mechanism. Computerization is done for faster set­tlement of transactions. Screen-based trading pro­vides the full transparency of the transactions. After the abolition of the managing agency system in 1970, the importance of the capital market in India cannot be overemphasized.

The Indian capi­tal market has now been a very vibrant and grow­ing market. It is one of the leading capital markets in developing countries. We have the second largest number of listed companies (6500) in the world, next only to the USA have the largest number of exchanges in any country—23 Stock Exchanges. We have 15 million investors. And in the decade of 80s, the amount raised from the Indian capital mar­ket went up from Rs. 200 crores a year to Rs. 10,000 crores a year.

The Indian capital market is the market for long term loanable funds as distinct from money market which deals in short-term funds. It refers to the facilities and institutional arrangements for borrowing and lending “term funds”, medium term, and long term funds. In principal capital market loans are used by industries mainly for fixed investment. It does not deal in capital goods but is concerned with raising money capital or purpose of investment.

The Classification of Indian Capital Market:

The capital market in India includes the following institutions;

• Commercial Banks.
• Insurance Companies (LIC and GIC).
• Specialized financial institutions like IFCI, IDBI, ICICI, SIDCS, SFCS, UTI etc.
• Provident Fund Societies.
• Merchant Banking Agencies, and.
• Credit Guarantee Corporations.

Individuals who invest directly on their own insecurities are also suppliers of the fund to the capital market. Thus, like all the markets the capital market is also composed of those who demand funds (borrowers) and those who supply funds (lenders). An ideal capital market attempts to provide adequate capital at a reasonable rate of return for any business, or industrial proposition which offers a prospective high yield to make borrowing worthwhile.

The Indian capital market is divided into the gilt-edged market and the industrial securities market. The gilt-edged market refers to the market for government and semi-government securities, backed by the RBI. The securities traded in this market are stable in value and are much sought after by banks and other institutions. The industrial securities market refers to the market for shares and debentures of old and new companies. This market is further divided into the new issues market and old capital market meaning the stock exchange.

The new issue market refers to the raising of new capital in the form of shares and debentures, whereas the old capital market deals with securities already issued by companies. The capital market is also divided between the primary capital market and secondary capital market. The primary market refers to the new issue market, which relates to the issue of shares, preference shares, and debentures of non-government public limited companies and also to the realizing of fresh capital by government companies, and the issue of public sector bonds.

The secondary market, on the other hand, is the market for old and already issued securities. The secondary capital market is composed of industrial security market or the stock exchange in which industrial securities are bought and sold and the gilt-edged market in which the government and semi-government securities are traded.

The Growth of the Indian Capital Market:

The following growth below are;

Before Independence of Indian Capital Market:

Indian capital market was hardly existent in the pre-independence times. Agriculture was the mainstay of the economy but there was hardly any long term lending to the agricultural sector. Similarly, the growth of industrial securities market was very much hampered since there were very few companies and the number of securities traded in the stock exchanges was even smaller.

Indian capital market was dominated by the gilt-edged market for government and semi-government securities. Individual investors were very few in numbers and that too was limited to the affluent classes in the urban and rural areas. Last but not least, there were no specialized intermediaries and agencies to mobilize the savings of the public and channelize them to invest.

After Independence of Indian Capital Market:

Since independence, the Indian capital market has made widespread growth in all the areas as reflected by the increased volume of savings and investments. In 1951, the number of joint stock companies (which is a very important indicator of the growth of capital market) was 28,500 both public limited and private limited companies with a paid up capital of Rs. 775 crore, which in 1990 stood at 50,000 companies with a paid up capital of Rs. 20,000 crore. The rate of growth of investment has been phenomenal in recent years, in keeping with the accelerated tempo of development of the Indian economy under the impetus of the five-year plans.

The Development of Indian Capital Market:

Here we detail about the eight developments in the Indian capital market.

Financial Intermediation:

The Indian capital market has grown due to the innovation of the mechanism of indirect financing. This innovation has enhanced the efficiency of the flow of funds from ultimate savers to ultimate users through newly established financial intermediaries like UTI, LIC, and GIC. The LIC has been mobilizing the savings of households to build a “life fund”.

It has been deploying a part of “life fund” to purchase the shares and debentures of the companies. Until 1991 UTI was amongst the top ten shareholders in one out of every three companies listed in the Stock Exchange in which it had a shareholding. Likewise, UTI has been mobilizing savings of households through the sale of “units” to invest in securities of “blue-chip” companies.

In short, financial intermediaries like LIC, UTI, and GIC have activated the growth process of the Indian capital market. It is evident from the rising intermediation ratio. The intermediation ratio is a ratio of the volume of financial instruments issued by the financial institutions, i.e., secondary securities to the volume of primary securities issued by non-financial corporate firms rose from 0.27 during 1951-56 to 0.37 during 1979-80 to 1981-82.

Underwriting of Securities:

The New Issue Market as a segment of the capital market can be activated through institutional arrangements for the underwriting of new issues of securities. During the pre-independence period, the volume of securities underwritten was quite minimal due to lack of an adequate institutional arrangement for the provision of underwriting. Stockbrokers and banks used to perform this function.

In recent years, the volume and amount of securities underwritten have tremendously increased owing to the increasing participation of specialized financial institutions like LIC and UTI and the developed banks like 1FC1,1CICI and IDBI in underwriting activities. It is evident from the fact that the number of securities underwritten was only 55 percent in 1960-61, whereas at present it is about 99 percent.

Response to the Offer of Public Issues of Shares and Bonds:

Traditionally investors in India being risk-investors had been reluctant to invest in shares of public limited companies. Hence, industrial securities as a form of investment were not popular in India before 1951. However, since 1991 public response to corporate securities has been improving. But equity-cult has yet to be developed in rural areas.

It is important to point out that the public response to new issues of shares and bonds depends upon number of factors such as rates of return on industrial securities relative to rates of return on non-marketable financial assets and real assets, government’s monetary policy and fiscal policy and above all legal protection to investors in recent years.

All the above-mentioned factors have contributed to the growth of public response to the new issue of corporate securities. In short, growing response to public issues has strengthened the Indian capital market. It is evident from the fact that the number of shareholders rose from 60 lakh in 1985 to 160 lakh in 1994.

Merchant Banking:

The role of merchant banking in India’s capital market can be traced back to 1969 when Grind lays Bank established a special cell called the “Merchant Banking”. Since then all the commercial banks have set up the “Merchant Banking Division” to play an important role in the capital market. The merchant banking division of commercial banks advises the companies about economic viability, financial viability and technical feasibility of the project.

They conduct the initial ‘spade work” to find out the investment climate to advise the company whether the public issue floated would be fully subscribed or under-subscribed. The merchant banks in India act as the underwriter as well as the manager of new issues of securities. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) regulates all merchant banks as far as their operations relating to issue activity are concerned. To sum up, the emergence of merchant banking has strengthened the institutional base of the Indian capital market.

Credit Rating Agencies:

Of late, credit rating agencies have emerged in the financial sectors. This is an important development for the growth of the Indian capital market. Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India (ICRA) rates bonds, debentures, preference shares, Corporate Debentures, and Commercial Papers.

As Credit Rating Information Services of India Ltd. (CRISIL) is a pioneer in credit rating, it rates debt instruments of banks, financial institutions, and corporate firms. The credit assessment of companies issuing securities helps in the growth of New Issue Market segment of the capital market.

Mutual Funds:

Mutual funds companies are investment trust companies. Mutual funds schemes are designed to mobilize funds from individuals and institutional investors, who in exchange get units which Can be redeemed after a certain lock-in period, at their Net Asset Value (NAV). The mutual fund schemes provide tax benefits and buyback facility. The Unit Trust of India (UTI) can be regarded as the pioneer in the setting up of mutual funds in India. Of late, commercial banks have also launched in India mutual funds schemes.

Can-stock scheme of the Canara bank and LIC’s scheme, such as Dhanashree, Dhanaraksha, and Dhanariddhi are mutual funds schemes. Since mutual funds schemes help to mobilize small savings of the relatively smaller savers to invest in industrial securities, so these schemes contribute to the growth of the capital market. The total assets of mutual funds companies increased from Rs. 66,272 crore in 1993-94 to Rs. 99,248 crore in 2005 and to Rs. 4,13,365 crore in 2008. The investment of mutual funds in the secondary market influences the share prices in the stock exchange.

Stock Exchange Regulation Act:

The growth of capital market would not have been possible had the Government of India not legislated suitable laws to protect the investors and regulate the Stock Exchanges. Under this Act, only recognized stock exchanges are allowed to function. This Act has empowered the Government of India to inquire into the affairs of a Stock Exchange and regulate it’s working. into the affairs of a Stock Exchange and regulate it’s working.

The Government of India established the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on April 12, 1988, through an through an extraordinary notification in the Gazette of India. In April 1992, SEBI was granted statutory recognition by passing an Act. Since 1991, SEBI has been evolving and implementing various measures and practices to infuse greater transparency in the capital market in the interest of investing public and orderly development of the securities market.

Liberalization Measures:

Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) have been allowed access to the Indian capital market. Investment norms for NRIs have been liberalized, so that NRIs and Overseas Corporate Bodies can buy shares and debentures, without prior permission of RBI. This was expected to internationalize the Indian capital market.

To sum up, the Indian capital market has registered an impressive growth since 1951. However, it is only since the mid-1980s that new institutions, new financial instruments, and new regularity measures have led to speedy growth of the capital market. The liberalization measures under the New Economic Policy (NEP) gave a further boost to the growth of the Indian capital market.