India, Nov. 21 -- Look at the contradictions, which possibly highlight the differences in demographics, and investors' mindset. The risk tolerances of the elderly in the US have gone up. "Americans aged 70 and over now own 39 per cent of all stocks and mutual funds (which mostly invest in equities), almost twice as much as was common from 1989 to 2009," reveals an article in a global magazine. This trend is not fully explained by the fact that the number of elderly is up from nine per cent in 2010 to 12 per cent today. If one accounted for this factor only, the elderly's share of stock market wealth would have risen by half of what happened since the financial crisis of 2007-09.

The opposite is happening in India. Recent data, and report...