The British economist, author and politician Vince Cable often used colourful metaphors to describe the state of the banking industry in his country. Consider this gem, for instance, when he was British business secretary.
“Banks operate like a man who either wears his trousers round his chest, stifling breathing, as now, or round his ankles, exposing his assets… if he has any,” he said at a conference in September 2011.
“We want their trousers tied round their middle: steady lending growth; particularly to productive British business, especially small-scale enterprise.”
Now, we know Indian policymakers are usually far more conservative when it comes to language and public speaking. But one of the goals of the Reserve Bank of India is to nudge bankers to keep their trousers tied round their middle. And that’s what the RBI was perhaps aiming for when it reviewed its monetary policy.
The policy itself was along expected lines—the central bank kept interest rates unchanged for a second successive meeting as it waits to see the impact of the previous reductions and the GST rate cuts. It kept the window for further rate cuts open even as it lifted its forecast for India’s economic growth to 6.8% for 2025-26 from 6.5% earlier and reduced the inflation estimate to 2.6% from 3.1%.
The unexpected part was the wide set of measures—22, to be precise—it announced to boost bank lending that has been hovering just around the 10% mark.
The RBI allowed banks to finance acquisitions by Indian companies—a segment dominated by foreign banks and private credit investors. It lifted the cap on loans to individuals for buying shares at initial public offerings.
Banks can now lend as much as Rs 2 crore against equity shares, up from Rs 20 lakh earlier. Banks can also finance IPO applications up to Rs 25 lakh, up from Rs 10 lakh, per individual.
In addition, the RBI relaxed rules for lending to large corporate groups by withdrawing a 2016 framework that limited such loans. It lowered the risk weights for infrastructure loans by non-bank finance companies to increase credit flow to road and energy projects, and proposed to allow Indian banks to lend in rupees to businesses in neighboring countries.
This is not all. The RBI gave banks more breathing room to meet capital norms. It said the expected credit loss rules, which require banks to set aside more funds for potential bad loans, will take effect on April 1, 2027, and that banks will have until March 31, 2031 to fully implement that framework.
All in all, the decisions will boost bank lending to companies and individuals, and deepen their role in capital market activity. No wonder, then, that stock markets jumped nearly 1% after the decisions were announced.
But could the measures, to borrow from Vince Cable, risk pulling down the pants to the ankles?
“I do not think you should see these measures as any kind of relaxation or kind of letting go of sight…from financial stability. Stability is foremost for us,” RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra said after announcing the policy review. “At the same time… we have to ensure that we are not in any way impeding growth.”
IPO Mela
The RBI’s relaxation of rules related to bank financing for IPOs couldn’t have come at a better time. For, a bunch of companies are rushing to launch IPOs in the final quarter of 2025, seeking to raise as much as Rs 70,000 crore and giving investors plenty of opportunities to potentially earn quick returns on their bets.
These companies include Tata Group’s non-bank lending arm Tata Capital, the Indian unit South Korean giant LG Electronics, coworking space provider WeWork India, fund house ICICI Prudential Asset Management, ed-tech startup PhysicsWallah, education lender Credila Financial, and technology firm Fractal Analytics.
WeWork India has already launched its Rs 3,000-crore IPO that involves only an offer for sale by its US-based parent and majority owner Embassy Group. The IPO opened on Friday and will close early next week. The company has set a price band of Rs 615-648 per share and is targeting a valuation of as much as Rs 8,685 crore
Next up will be Tata Capital. Its Rs 15,512-crore IPO—the largest so far this year—is a combination of a fresh issue of Rs 6,846 crore and an offer for sale by Tata Sons of Rs 8,665.87 crore. The company has set a price band of Rs 310-326 per share, chasing a valuation of Rs 1.39 trillion. The IPO opens on October 6.
LG Electronics India opens its Rs 11,600-crore IPO on October 7, targeting a valuation of Rs 77,400 crore. It has set a price band of Rs 1,080-1,140 for the IPO, in which its Korean parent is divesting a 15% stake.
In addition, more than 50 companies already have SEBI approval to launch IPOs and many of these can go public in the next three months. These include Hero Motors, Kent RO, boAt parent Imagine Marketing, Pine Labs, Canara Robeco Asset Management, MTR Foods parent Orkla India, and Canara HSBC Life Insurance.
This IPO rush comes after more than 200 Indian companies floated IPOs in the first nine months of 2025, raising more than Rs 85,000 crore. If the final three months turn out to be as busy as expected, this year’s IPO mop-up could come close to matching last year’s record fundraising of Rs 1.6 trillion.
Untapped Investors
If you really are gearing up to invest in the IPOs, you are part of only a small portion of India’s estimated 1.4-billion population. At least that’s what a recent survey conducted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India indicates.
The Investor Survey 2025 was conducted in partnership with the Association of Mutual Funds of India, stock exchanges, depositories and market research firm Kantar. It covered about 92,000 households across 400 cities and 1,000 villages, and offers a comprehensive snapshot of the investment culture in India. Here are its key findings.
The survey found that only 9.5% of households are invested in securities such as equities and mutual funds, translating to about 32 million households out of an estimated 337 million. Awareness, however, is far higher: 63% households know at least one securities product. This gap between awareness and participation underlines the challenge of converting knowledge into action.
Urban India showed significantly greater penetration (15%) compared with rural India (6%). The metros, graduates, and higher-income groups drive much of the investment activity, with penetration rates in Delhi and Maharashtra exceeding 17%. In contrast, Bihar and Nagaland showed below-average participation.
India’s investment culture remains conservative. Nearly 80% of households described themselves as low risk-tolerant, prioritizing capital preservation over potentially higher returns. Only 5.6% said they have a high-risk appetite. This aversion holds back long-term wealth creation through equities, bonds, or alternative funds.
The number of households investing in mutual funds was just 6.7%, while those investing in stocks were just 5.3%. Less than 1% invested in futures and options, corporate bonds and other assets.
The survey showed that complexity and information gaps were the biggest deterrents for non-investors (74%), followed by risk and return concerns (73%) and issues of trust and transparency (51%). Many cited not knowing how to start, confusion caused by too many options, and fear of losing money as prime reasons for staying out.
On the other hand, the top motivators are simple processes, user-friendly platforms, and better education on how products work. Encouragingly, 22% of aware non-investors said they intend to invest in the next year.
Education is emerging as a key lever. The survey showed that less than 1% households have attended formal investor education programmes. In fact, social media finfluencers were the biggest source of information, with 56% of the respondents depending on them. Content preferences vary, too: Gen Z favours video explainers and social media reels, while older groups lean towards articles, audiobooks, and podcasts. Language also matters—47% each preferred Hindi or regional languages, and only 5% English.
Overall, the survey underscores a paradox: India has a growing awareness of financial products but remains deeply risk-averse and under-invested. Encouraging more people to invest will require not only more education, but also systems that reinforce trust and reduce complexity. The opportunity is indeed waiting to be tapped.
The Billionaire Club
Moving on from regular folks like us to wealthy people, Bollywood celebrities were in the news this week for two reasons. Superstar Shah Rukh Khan led from the front, joining the billionaire club for the first time.
The Hurun India Rich List 2025 estimated Khan’s net worth at $1.4 billion. This makes him one of the world’s richest actors alongside actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger and pop stars Rihanna and Taylor Swift.
The ranking of India’s richest people had several obvious names. Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Roshni Nadar, Cyrus Poonawalla, KM Birla, Azim Premji, and the Hindujas were among the top 10. Overall, India now has 358 billionaires as 24 new names joined this year including AI firm Perplexity’s founder Aravind Srinivas.
Hurun’s larger list includes 1,687 people with a net worth of at least Rs 1,000 crore. This wider list includes several other Bollywood personalities such as Juhi Chawla, Hrithik Roshan, Amitabh Bachchan and Karan Johar.
Khan’s wealth is driven mainly by his stakes in the production house Red Chillies Entertainment and the IPL cricket team Knight Riders Sports, apart from earnings from movies, endorsements, and other ventures.
Chawla, Khan’s co-star in several films and business partner in Knight Riders, has a net worth of about Rs 7,790 crore, or about $880 million, according to Hurun. Roshan came in third with a net worth of $260 million, followed by director Karan Johar with $200 million and Bachchan with $183 million.
Their wealth wasn’t the only reason why Bollywood celebrities were in the headlines this week. Another reason was some of them asking courts to protect their personality rights in the era of artificial intelligence!
Stop the Deepfakes!
Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh’s son, and his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have asked a court to remove as well as stop the creation of AI videos that infringe their intellectual property rights.
The couple also want the court to order YouTube parent Google to have safeguards to ensure the videos already uploaded are not used to train AI platforms. They argued that YouTube’s data-sharing policy is worrying as it lets users consent to sharing of videos that they created to train rival AI models, per a Reuters report.
While the Bachchans are mostly targeting little-known sellers for unauthorised merchandise like posters and coffee mugs with their photos, they have also sued Google seeking Rs 4 crore in damages.
The appeal is significant in view of YouTube’s massive popularity. India is its biggest market with around 60 crore users. In May, YouTube said it had paid more than $2.4 billion to Indian creators in the last three years.
But the appeal is significant for a far more important reason than just money. AI-generated deepfake videos that depict false or misleading content can spread online very quickly and harm the people concerned. That’s why the Delhi High Court has ordered 518 website links the couple had specifically listed to be taken down, saying they caused financial harm to the actors and harmed their dignity and goodwill.
To be sure, the Bachchans aren’t the first ones to take such steps and several other celebrities have done so. Telugu actor Nagarjuna has also approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his image, voice and other personality attributes. Like the Bachchans, Nagarjuna also said that his persona was being misused for selling merchandise and that AI-generated videos had linked him to terrorist organisations and gambling.
The court safeguarded those rights in an order last week and restrained anyone from commercially exploiting his name, image, and voice without consent. Similarly, a court recently protected Karan Johar’s personality rights and directed taking down of obscene memes and social media posts. Last year, a court safeguarded Jackie Shroff’s rights. In 2023, a court ordered to stop the misuse of actor Anil Kapoor’s name, image, voice, and his signature “jhakaas” catchphrase.
Market Wrap
India’s stock markets rebounded in the holiday-shortened week after the RBI’s surprise changes to bank lending norms. Both the Nifty 50 and the BSE Sensex rose about 1% each for the week, led by lenders. The mid-cap index climbed 1.8% and the small-caps rose about 2%.
Shriram Finance was the top gainer, rising nearly 6.5%. Kotak Mahindra Bank jumped over 5% while Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Jio Financial, SBI and ICICI Bank also notched gains.
Tata Motors recovered from last week’s fall due to the cyberattack at its Jaguar Land Rover unit. The automaker climbed 6.4% this week after its JLR unit said it had started resuming operations in phases.
Metal stocks were also among the major winners. Aluminum producer Hindalco rose 4.9%, Tata Steel was up 3.5% and JSW Steel ended 2.7% higher.
Other major gainers included Bharat Electronics, Trent, Titan, Power Grid Corp, ONGC and Wipro.
The two new entrants to the Nifty 50 ended the week with contrasting fortunes. While IndiGo parent InterGlobe Aviation flew 1.7% higher, hospital chain Max Healthcare weakened 4.8%.
Maruti Suzuki and Eicher Motors fell this week after their recent outperformance. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and Coal India were among the other major laggards, falling 1% each.
Other Headlines
- Tata Motors unit JLR begins phased manufacturing restart after cyberattack
- SEBI bars Man Industries, top executives for two years over alleged fund diversion
- WeWork India sets price band of Rs 3,000-crore IPO at Rs 615-648; eyes Rs 8,685 crore valuation
- International gold prices hit record high on US rate-cut bets, government shutdown
- Cabinet approves spending Rs 84,263 crore towards minimum support price for winter crops
- Aviation regulator DGCA proposes to ease aircraft leasing conditions
- India’s September manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index falls to 57.7 from 59.3 in August
- India’s April-August fiscal deficit reaches 38.1% of 2025-26 target
- SEBI extends timeline to roll out algo trading rules for retail investors
- Infra.Market files for Rs 5,000-crore IPO under confidential route
- Adani Total Gas chief financial officer Parag Parikh resigns
- India’s trade pact with Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein takes effect from Oct 1
- Moody’s affirms India’s sovereign ratings, retains ‘stable’ outlook
- Govt appoints Shirish Chandra Murmu as RBI deputy governor
That’s all for this week. Until next week, happy investing!
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