India's households are totally flipping the script on their savings habits and the Economic Survey 2026 lays it all out. Forget the days of stuffing everything into bank FD, the past decade has seen individuals warming up to stuff linked with the market, particularly equities. It is not random, it is because our financial setup has evolved and people are okay with taking calculated risks now.
Tabled in Parliament yesterday, January 29, 2026, the survey points to massive growth in gross financial savings from FY12 to FY25. But the main part is how it is being split up. The share of equity and mutual funds in household financial savings shot up from just 2% back in FY12 to a solid 15.2% by FY25. And the star is SIP. Monthly flows averaged under Rs 4,000 crore in FY17, but now they are floating at over Rs 28,000 crore for FY26 (April to November), that is a seven-times jump.
Investments in equities used to be an afterthought for families. Now, they are a key part of financial planning. This change is due to easier access through apps and more people getting involved. It is pushing everyone toward those balanced, diversified portfolios that actually match long-term dreams.
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On the flip side, term deposits are not dead, they just shrank from over 58% in FY12 to around 35% in FY25 (hitting a low of 31.9% in FY22). Households are not ditching them; they are just adding a spice of equity mutual funds for better diversification.
More and more regular people are investing in the stock market. Individual investors increased their share from 11% in FY2014 to 14.3% in FY2019 and now it is 18.8% as of September 2025. Their total investments grew from Rs 8 lakh crore in FY2014 to an impressive Rs 84 lakh crore.
Direct investments went up slightly from under 8% to 9.6%. In comparison, indirect investments, like those through mutual funds, nearly tripled to 9.2%. From April 2020 to September 2025, households added Rs 53 lakh crore in equity wealth. This shows that the markets reward patience and steady investment strategies.
This whole shift in India's household financial savings toward equity investment growth screams maturity. SIPs are turning savings into disciplined, cycle-proof wealth-building machines.
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