New Delhi, June 10 -- India's domestic equity investors face a problem they haven't experienced in a long time: two consecutive years without meaningful equity returns.

The challenge becomes even more complex when one considers the average age of today's market participants. Most Indian equity investors belong to the post-covid generation and have never experienced a prolonged bear market. They entered after the covid crash and have largely witnessed a one-way bull run.

Their expectations are not necessarily built around investing patiently for years and waiting for returns to emerge. Instead, they are conditioned to seeing every market dip quickly bought into, with markets subsequently moving higher. This time, however, appears differe...