Neetu Ranka, Nuvama Investment Banking: Capital shapes economies — but who allocates it shapes society

Key takeaways: India's capital markets outlook & leadership

• A structural transformation underway: India's primary market has shifted from foreign institutional investor dependency to a domestically anchored ecosystem, underpinned by surging SIP inflows, rapid financial digitisation, and favourable demographic tailwinds.
• Government as catalyst: Production Linked Incentive schemes, increased capex allocation, and targeted GST rationalisation are actively driving dealmaking activity across manufacturing, defence, power infrastructure, and electronic manufacturing services.
• Profitability over growth: A maturing investor base is shifting its focus from pure growth metrics to profit generation — marking a significant evolution from the 2021–22 mindset that defined the previous cycle.
• Competence is the only currency: In a high-pressure, ego-driven environment, credibility cannot be demanded — it must be earned through technical depth, authority, and preparation.
• Capital allocation as a social force: Female representation at the decision-making level — in fund management, investment committees, and regulatory advisory boards — is not simply an equity issue. Who allocates capital shapes society.

"Capital shapes economies, but who allocates capital shapes society."

In many ways, Neetu Ranka's career has echoed the astonishing transformation of India's financial landscape over the past 25 years. As a young Chartered Accountant in the early 2000s, she was fascinated by how numbers could tell a story about growth, risk, and opportunity — and she was about to see exactly how that played out in reality.

Two landmark IPOs in 2004 crystallised her path. Maruti Suzuki and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) captured India's attention — the latter becoming the country's first $1 billion IPO, oversubscribed by more than 170 times. For Neetu, they demonstrated "the power of public markets in unlocking value and building institutional ownership." Watching those transactions, she says, "sparked a strong interest in capital markets for me."

Today, as Managing Director of ECM Corporate Finance at Nuvama Investment Banking in Mumbai, Neetu sits at the intersection of strategic capital structuring and regulatory navigation. Her role, she explains, has evolved considerably: "From execution — drafting prospectuses and crunching numbers — to more of strategic stewardship." That stewardship includes making companies truly IPO-ready, "not just from a compliance standpoint, but from a positioning and investor readiness perspective."

A new era for Indian equity

For Neetu, the story of India's capital markets is one of resilience and structural maturation. At its heart is a fundamental shift in supply-demand dynamics that has made India one of the most active primary markets globally.

The decisive change, she explains, is the emergence of a strong domestic cushion. "Unlike earlier cycles which were heavily dependent on FII flows, today's markets have a very strong domestic base." That base is fuelled by steady SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) inflows — which have seen a step-change in scale over recent years — complemented by rapid financial digitisation and the investment appetite of a younger generation.

The numbers are striking. Neetu cites a surge in Demat account openings from approximately 41 million in 2020 to around 150 million in 2024 — a generational shift in retail market participation. Millennials and Gen Z investors are, she says, more interested, educated, and aware of the power of financial instruments than any previous cohort.

Policy has played its part too. Targeted GST rationalisation measures have stimulated consumption and enhanced disposable income, broadening the retail investor base further. The cumulative effect is a market that can now "access capital even during global volatility" — a resilience that would have been unthinkable in earlier cycles.

Key sectors driving activity in 2026

Looking ahead, Neetu is clear-eyed about where dealmaking momentum will concentrate. The Indian government is, she says, "playing a real catalytic role" — and the evidence is in the sectors it is backing.

Manufacturing is the primary beneficiary, driven by Production Linked Incentive schemes and sustained capex allocation. Within that broad theme, Neetu identifies specific areas of traction: power transmission and grid infrastructure, defence manufacturing, and electronic manufacturing services. A newer addition to the pipeline is data centre infrastructure and the broader ecosystem of industries that will benefit from its expansion.

Beyond manufacturing, she identifies a notable shift in how the digital sector is being evaluated. The 2021–22 growth-at-all-costs mindset has given way to something more considered — investors are "starting to look at companies generating profits" rather than simply scaling revenues.

The non-lending financial services space is also gaining momentum, with emerging financial platforms and wealth management companies attracting increasing interest. Neetu also foresees a wave of secondary monetisation as private equity investors, having reached the end of their holding cycles, look to exit via IPO.

Finally, hybrid instruments — InvITs and REITs — are "gaining a lot of traction," offering investors stable yields in a high-growth environment and signalling a broader diversification beyond pure equity. As Neetu summarises: "India's primary market is reflecting the country's broader economic transformation. Earlier the economy was more service led; this is now moving towards capex led."

Credibility through competence

The finance industry in India, as in every market globally, remains male dominated. For Neetu, entering the sector in 2004 meant navigating a culture defined by what she describes as an "aggressive face-time ethos" — where staying late served as a proxy for dedication, and ego was a currency as valuable as expertise.

Her response was not to push back against the culture directly, but to render it irrelevant through competence. A formative moment came when a male client repeatedly directed questions to her junior male colleague, despite Neetu being the lead on the deal. "I didn't get angry," she recalls. "I simply redirected the answers with such technical depth and authority that the dynamic shifted naturally."

The lesson she took from that experience has shaped her philosophy ever since: "You can't demand respect. You have to command it through competence. If you don't define your narrative, someone else will."

The female advantage

With more than two decades in the industry, Neetu has come to view her gender not as a hurdle, but as a distinct competitive advantage — one that is frequently undervalued, but consistently critical in capital markets.

Women, she argues, bring higher emotional intelligence, a nuanced approach to risk, and a particular ability to align diverse stakeholder interests. "Capital markets can be very high pressure," she acknowledges, "but you can only sustain that with hard work, clarity, and preparation." Women tend to be "more risk aware," she adds — a calibration that benefits long-term stability over short-term gains.

Relationship depth, she believes, is the differentiator that compounds over time. "Capital markets are built on trust, and relationship depth often differentiates repeat mandates in the long term."

She is cautiously optimistic about the direction of travel — pointing to improving maternity policies, more flexible working arrangements, and a more supportive partner culture than existed when she started. But she is equally clear about what remains unfinished. It is not enough for women to simply be present in the industry. They must be in positions of power.

"One change I would like to see is greater female representation in decision-making and capital allocation levels" — in fund management, on investment committees, and across regulatory advisory boards. Her reasoning is not purely about fairness. It is about consequence. "Capital shapes economies," she says, "but who allocates capital shapes society."