A growing number of young Indians in their 20s are bypassing traditional careers in favor of full-time trading and investing: a trend that has sparked concern among industry leaders. Edelweiss Mutual Fund CEO Radhika Gupta in a post on X warned that this shift toward passive income at an early stage could prove short-sighted.
“Perhaps more muted equity returns will change this, but this is certainly focusing on passive income too early in the cycle. The asset with the highest ROI in your 20s is your TALENT and TIME, not a financial instrument!” Gupta wrote, reacting to a broader debate on next-generation business heirs choosing stock trading over entrepreneurship.
Chartered accountant Anshul Garg linked the rise of full-time stock trading among young professionals to social media hype and COVID-era financialization narratives. He noted that earlier generations avoided excessive stock market speculation for fear of addiction, adding that young professionals should treat investing as a side income rather than a primary career.
Gupta's remarks came amid mounting criticism from industry veterans, including industrialist Harsh Goenka and banker Uday Kotak, about young business inheritors prioritizing wealth management over building companies.
In an Economic Times op-ed, Goenka lamented that successors who once learned the ropes in factories and supply chains now spend their time “holding a golf club, a champagne flute, or the steering wheel of a brand-new Lamborghini.”
Goenka cited Kotak’s warning that younger heirs are increasingly drawn to stock market speculation and family offices instead of taking on the challenges of running businesses. Kotak fears that this shift could weaken India’s entrepreneurial drive, as the next generation moves away from risk-taking and innovation.
Economist Sanjeev Sanyal echoed these concerns, saying he was glad the business elite was finally addressing the issue. “Instead of leveraging their wealth to take bigger risks, they create ‘family offices’ and spend their time fighting with their cousins over the family art collection,” he remarked. Sanyal urged business families to push their heirs onto the shop floor rather than Ivy League programs, which he dismissed as “finishing schools.”
Goenka also took aim at changing work culture, saying that today’s heirs “roll their eyes” at industry veterans like Narayana Murthy and S N Subrahmanyan, who advocate for long hours and hands-on leadership. He described the modern family office workday as “social media updates, fitness sessions with celebrity trainers, and high-profile meetings disguised as vacations.”