New Delhi, July 23 -- It's been a volatile year for the Indian stock market, and the reasons are no secret. Trade tensions, the war in Iran, supply disruptions, rising crude oil prices, a falling rupee - the list of investors' concerns is long.

These concerns have resulted in predictable market behaviour - avoiding the index. If the market is unlikely to go up, the thinking goes, then don't invest in the Nifty 50.

The outcome of this behaviour is a mostly flat index, a trend that dates back to 2024, as this chart shows.

Does this mean Indian investors have abandoned the stock market? Not at all. Mutual fund flows remain strong and retail investors continue to participate, easily absolving the selling by foreign institutional investors ...