(This story originally appeared in on Feb 02, 2020)

1. Financial savings have grown faster. And within that, mutual funds the fastest



2. Within funds, there is a marked preference for equity funds



4. Investors from small towns are investing big, too





For the longest time, Indian middle-class salary earners made no distinction between savings and investment. Savings were nothing more than salary not spent, mostly kept in bank deposits. Some went beyond to buy gold and real estate, but mostly for self-use and not as investment. Stocks were out of bounds — considered too complicated and too risky to put small savings into. In the past 10 years, that’s changed dramatically. Here are four clear signs of that change...*Total includes exchange traded funds (ETFs), gold ETF and fund of funds (FoFs): Figures are total investments from top 30 and bottom 30 citiesSource: AMFI & MF Dex