Q1. Could you start by giving us a brief overview of your professional background, particularly focusing on your expertise in the industry?

I have almost two decades of experience in Institutional Equities, primarily with my most recent experience being that of Heading the cash trading desk out of India at a large European bank.  In this role, I was responsible for managing relationships with a diverse set of institutional clients across Asia and India — including hedge funds, long-only mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies, and large domestic asset managers.

In response to shifting client priorities — particularly the growing emphasis on liquidity — I contributed to the setup of the Blocks desk, which was a first of its kind on the street, aligning our offering with evolving market needs. 

Additionally, I worked closely with the regional team to develop electronic trading solutions specifically adapted to the Indian market microstructure, which is distinct in its characteristics compared to other South Asian markets. These efforts not only improved execution quality for clients but also strengthened our competitive positioning in a rapidly changing environment.

Q2. What is the current size of institutional equities flows (domestic + FPI) through the Indian equities market? How is this projected to evolve over the next 3–5 years?

DIIs, as of June 2025, have already invested in excess of $34b (highest-ever annual run rate), and their ownership of Indian equities is the highest ever. SIP inflows remain elevated at INR 25000 crore monthly, suggesting structural retail participation. However, having said this, ownership of Indian equities as part of financial savings is not a low single-digit number anymore. So, incrementally inflows will most likely keep pace with the GDP growth of 6-8% since the most aggressive phase of asset reallocation has already played out.

FIIs, on the other hand, have been sellers of ~$10b ytd (including both primary and secondary). However, I foresee these flows to be relatively volatile. Passive inflows will continue as India's market cap keeps pace with GDP growth (likely to remain amongst the highest in the world) and India's weight in global/EM/Asian indices keeps pace, but the current valuation gaps and USD trajectory could divert funds flow to relatively cheaper emerging markets and even some developed markets.

Q3. How is the India manufacturing and capex upcycle impacting international institutional allocations toward Indian equities?

The Indian capex cycle has resulted in a structural shift in terms of the sectors that institutional investors favor. Global investors are increasing their holdings in industries like capital goods, construction, autos, and defense at the expense of traditional Tech and consumer names. 

MSCI India weight of industrials has more than doubled in the last 5 years. Active flows especially are investing in midcaps active in these sectors, while passive flows remain focused on the liquid largecaps in traditional sectors.

Q4. Where do you see the biggest untapped opportunities for institutional flows into India—sectorally and structurally?

Sectorally, though, there has been increasing interest in some of the new emerging sectors, but the potential is far greater. Those sectors, in my view, are:

• Green energy plays like OEMs, battery recycling, green hydrogen, solar cells, etc
• Capital market and financialization plays - wealth managers, exchanges, clearing corporations, depositaries, fintech driven NBFCs/asset managers
• Defense - especially in the backdrop of recent geopolitical tensions, which are expected to remain elevated over the next 2-3 years

Q5. How could AI-driven trading/execution platforms disrupt or enhance institutional equities execution in the coming years?

Much of the initial disruption in institutional equities execution has already taken place with the widespread adoption of electronic trading. Going forward, the next wave of enhancement is likely to be incremental but meaningful — focused on improving the quality and intelligence of execution tools.

We can expect:

• More advanced liquidity-seeking algorithms, leveraging real-time market context, order book imbalance, and adaptive order types to reduce implementation shortfall
• Predictive trade analytics, both pre-and post-trade, to refine strategy selection and monitor slippage with greater precision
• Continued investment in low-latency infrastructure, especially with the growing presence of HFT participants in the Indian market

The recent SEBI circular on democratizing algorithmic trading could act as a further catalyst — encouraging brokers and vendors to invest in broader and more sophisticated electronic trading suites accessible to a wider client base.

Despite the significant shift toward electronic execution, AI can accelerate the trend of in-house execution among asset managers, even those with limited internal technology resources. With AI-driven platforms becoming more plug-and-play, execution may become more internalized, reducing reliance on external broker algorithms for certain order types.

On the research side, AI is likely to be even more disruptive. Traditional broker research — including earnings summaries, decoding analyst calls, and analyzing high-frequency data — is increasingly replicable via generative AI. This shift will push brokers to focus more on value-added offerings, such as differentiated primary research, thematic deep dives, bespoke access to management, and proprietary insights that are harder to automate.

Q6. Is there a growing demand for multi-asset cross-product solutions (equities + FX + rates + crypto) from institutional clients trading India?

Multi-asset solutions are not really that much in demand in large part due to regulation (restriction on fx and rates derivatives without underlying exposure) and lack of infra (no centralized clearing, lack of multi-asset execution platforms). 

Right to win has to be specialization, and hence, institutional clients have different counterparties, usually for equities and rates, depending on their respective strengths.

Q7. If you were an investor looking at companies within the space, what critical question would you pose to their senior management?

My questions as an investor would be along the following lines

Technology

How do you plan to protect margins with the ongoing (and likely to continue) shift from high-touch execution to low-touch execution. What kind of platform-level investments are you planning (TCA tools, execution infra, AI-driven algos, etc)?

Differentiation

With the increasing commoditization of research/execution services, how do you plan to differentiate and monetize in an unbundling world (value-added services, primary/on-ground research, quantitative insights, multi-asset perspectives)?

Talent hiring and retention

With the advent of AI, what is the shift in hiring plans and strategies? Also, with increasing competition, what would be talent retention tools at your disposal?

Diversification of revenue streams beyond traditional broking and investment banking businesses 

Clearing, custodial services, wealth management, etc

Inorganic growth via partnering/acquiring wealth and fintech platforms