Aligning Financial Education with the National Education Policy: Towards a Strategic Framework for Developing Informed Capital Market Investors

Indian Capital Markets have demonstrated strong performance and have been instrumental in economic prosperity over the years. They are not only helping the capital formation but also a source of employment generation and wealth creation. There are a lot of investors into the market who wish to earn quick money but they do not have proper knowledge and training. As a result they suffer losses and create panic into the market. Finally, a message spreads among investors and general public that investing into the capital market is very risky and they avoid this prominent investment avenue. Most of these participants are youth. On the other hand a very small portion of Indian population is financially literate. This paper helps in resolving these two major issues i.e. to make sure the presence of financially educated investors into the Capital market and to make sure that the common people of country become financially literate. The present study suggests that the new National Education Policy will be proved as a very effective tool to achieve both of these two goals without the involvement of huge resources. With the help of Logic Model this study proposes the creation of a framework through which the young generation of country will be properly informed and trained about the structure, the risk and the rewards associated with the capital markets. So they may envision it as a career opportunity or they may be very well informed investors. Similarly, through the Credit - based Projects in their undergraduate / postgraduate programmes, these students will help in increasing the financial literacy of the common citizens of the country.