I have been speaking to market intermediaries as well as investors. Frankly whether it is a Colonel in the army, a DSP of police, a practicing surgeon in Lucknow – most of them are players in the market.

The IFA is a player in the market. Whether you are a trader, investor, mutual fund investor, a DIY, a Registered Investment Adviser (aka RIA) – you are all players in the market.

I started my life in the equity markets in March, 1979. No, I had not turned 18, and nobody asked you if you had turned 18 years of age to open a brokerage account. No, we did not have pan cards, and with just one signature you could open a brokerage account. No kyc of course!

When I speak to many intermediaries they have a lot of contempt for the market – especially for the backbone of the market – the traders. Traders are the people who keep the market going, not investors like me who hold on to shares ‘forever’.

We go about our days allocating client accounts, recommending investment products and securities, tweeting, blogging, etc, without thinking too much about the the nuts and bolts of the marketplace and all of the critical work that goes on behind the scenes so that everything runs smoothly. In fact SEBI (1993) ensures that the back end is very very smooth. If a broker buys me a share at 3.12pm at a price of Rs. 1023, I have the ability to check it on the stock exchange’s website. Is this not awesome? a fabulously well run back end?

Just like when you click on an cell phone,  or you flip on the television, or you simply log on to the internet – you simply expect it to work right, to function correctly. Does it every occur to you how important the underlying infrastructure and the people who manage it are? We frequently ignore what’s going on behind all of the user interfaces and layers of software. There are some amazingly idiotic IFA, investors, etc. who criticize traders as if they have no role to play. Of course I am not in a position to go to each of those guys and explain how the market works. I know traders (professionals) who have a rocking net worth. I hear stories – from time to time – about how some so called traders (amateurs) who got ripped off in the market and have been reduced to penury. Oh ye IFA the market comprises of all such people.

Another thing we assume  is the trust our clients have in the investment markets. If they didn’t trust the markets to work properly and the assets they’re invested in to be handled correctly, they would never trust us or our abilities. If there weren’t an orderly, liquid market into which they could invest their savings, people like me would not be able to do what we do. If there were no markets, there would be no www.subramoney.com  – you know that OBVIOUSLY.

Look at the amount of money that people are putting into the mutual fund industry, into ULIPs, PMS, etc. It is not funny, is it?

Have you heard the Mutual fund sahi hai people ever thanking the markets? I have not. Have you heard the IFA thanking the market? No, me neither.

The market is the reason why all of these people have enough faith and confidence to entrust their hard earned money and security in the share and bond markets. The work that the market does everyday is what’s going to enable a billion investing households to retire, fund college educations and leave an inheritance to the next generation.

Immaterial of how little attention the markets get day to day, or how much the news media chooses to focus on the negatives (that’s their job), I want the market to know, on behalf of my industry, how appreciative some of us are, and all of us should be. I know that for my family to have held shares for 50 years, it is the robust market infra which has to be thanked ALONG with the traders, short term investors, other long term investors and the companies like Hindalco, Hdfc, Asian Paints, etc. who have created shareholder wealth.

Subramoney could never have built on a foundation of quicksand – where markets were chaotic (real estate), traders were untrustworthy and systems were breaking down.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to. It’s because of the bedrock that the market has put in place and continue to support that my clients’ clients can retire and I can earn a living.

So thank you. And keep up the great work. It’s going to save this country.