ET Alpha Wealth Summit | India's passive investing boom just starting; speed of change is unlike anything seen elsewhere: Sid Swaminathan

Passive funds (index funds and ETFs) have surged from roughly 6% to 25% of India's mutual fund industry in just a decade, a transition that took 15-20 years in mature global markets, according to JioBlackRock Asset Management MD & CEO Sid Swaminathan at the ET Alpha Wealth Summit. He cited three drivers: maturing and more efficient markets, 18 months of flat equity returns questioning active management fees, and over 70% of largecap active funds currently failing to beat their benchmarks. Swaminathan framed India as hosting multiple investor segments simultaneously — from first-time SIP investors to seasoned allocators seeking debt, global, and alternative exposure — with a rapidly expanding digital ecosystem uniquely accelerating financial access at scale.