An investigation into commerce & management student’s awareness and attitudes towards securities investment

Abstract

            Investment in securities is important for both personal wealth accumulation and in a larger perspective, capital infusion into the economy. However, despite all this, Indian youth lag behind when it comes to actively investing in the securities market. Commerce & management learners enjoy a peculiar advantage because they are introduced to financial concepts at an earlier age than other students. In this regard, there arises the natural question of whether early exposure has any bearing on awareness, attitude and investment intentions of the students. The current study aims at addressing this very issue by analyzing awareness, attitudes, and investment intentions of the commerce and management students as well as by considering their demographic characteristics.

            A structured questionnaire on a five-point scale was distributed among the students in these academic areas in order to collect data on the topic. The results indicate that although the students demonstrated a reasonable level of knowledge about legal and technical aspects of the securities market, the attitude they have towards investments is much more favorable than their level of knowledge would imply. It becomes visible that the students show a discrepancy between intention and action, as the majority is ready to invest but not even a small number of them did it in reality. Among some of the barriers named in the responses were lack of financial knowledge, fear of losing money, and problems raised by limited funds. These findings of the research give the ground for the recommendations to start educating students on being investors starting from college, when the influence of such education is the strongest.