New Delhi, March 6 -- You don't really need a finance degree to excel in the stock market-ask Sapna Shaligram. The 58-year-old chemistry teacher turned psychological counsellor is a self-taught investor who has been tracking stock markets since the early 90s.

Her first brush with the stock market wasn't smooth due to the Harshad Mehta scam. She and her husband, Sandeep Shaligram (60), suffered massive losses in the infamous Harshad Mehta scam.

"The Harshad Mehta boom motivated a lot of young couples like us to invest in stocks, but the scam and the subsequent crash in the market left a bitter taste. Indian markets lacked regulatory arrangements the way we have now to protect retail investors. I got back into markets once some regulatory...