For generations, the house sparrow has been part of India’s everyday soundscape. Nesting in roof spaces, feeding near homes and markets, and appearing in balconies and courtyards. Today, however, many of the spaces that once accommodated the bird are changing. Older houses are giving way to sealed apartment buildings. Open areas are being paved. Green spaces are becoming fragmented, while traffic and construction are reshaping urban habitats.

Across Indian cities, the spaces house sparrows once used for nesting and feeding are becoming harder to find. This has led to severe decline in the number of sparrows in urban areas.

Why March 20 is World Sparrow Day

World Sparrow Day has been observed every March 20 since 2010. It was initiated by the Nature Forever Society, an India-based conservation organisation, to raise awareness about the house sparrow and declining populations of common birds. The initiative has since become an international observance.

In India, the campaign has also helped bring urban bird conservation into the public conversation. Delhi declared the house sparrow its state bird in 2012.

Are Sparrows Disappearing from India?

The house sparrow remains widespread, and available evidence does not support treating the species as uniformly declining across every part of India. Recent research from Karnataka illustrates the point. A study of 16 small and medium-sized cities recorded 57 bird species, with the house sparrow ranking among the five most abundant species observed. Researchers recorded 118 house sparrows during the survey.

But abundance in one region does not rule out declines elsewhere. Government and conservation reports have pointed to loss of nesting spaces, habitat changes and reduced food availability as potential pressures on urban sparrows. Rather than a nationwide disappearance, India is seeing a more uneven picture, with sparrows persisting in some urban areas and declining in others

The Architecture Problem

For a bird that commonly nests in cavities, buildings are more than structures. Rapid urbanization has destroyed their habitat. Older houses often had gaps beneath roofs, openings in walls and other spaces where sparrows could build nests. Modern construction tends to seal these spaces.

The result is an unintended shift in urban ecology: buildings may become more efficient and secure for people while providing fewer nesting opportunities for birds. Government sources have previously identified the replacement of older houses and courtyards by concrete multi-storey construction as one factor affecting sparrow habitat.

Survival in Question?

Food availability is another part of the story. Sparrows can feed on grains and seeds, but insects are important in the diet of growing chicks. Changes in vegetation and pesticide use can therefore affect the food available during the breeding season. This means putting out grain on a balcony may help individual birds, but it cannot replace the wider habitat they require.

A functioning urban habitat needs food, nesting sites, water and vegetation—not just bird feeders. Recent research in Karnataka adds another dimension to the urban bird story. The study found that the number of motor vehicles and the amount of local greenery were among the most important environmental factors associated with bird species richness and diversity across the cities surveyed.

Researchers found that greenery can provide opportunities for feeding and breeding, while traffic can create disturbance. The finding is significant because urban biodiversity is not determined only by large parks. Street trees, gardens, shrubs and smaller patches of vegetation can also shape which birds are able to live in a neighbourhood.

What Cities Can Do?

Sparrow conservation does not necessarily require large-scale wildlife projects. Nest boxes can provide alternative nesting spaces where natural cavities are unavailable. Native plants can support insects and provide food and shelter. Clean water sources can become particularly important during hot weather.

Building renovations can also take wildlife into account by avoiding the unnecessary destruction of active nesting sites. In Chennai, for instance, the Koodugal Trust has involved schoolchildren in building sparrow nest boxes. A PIB report said the organisation had built more than 10,000 nests between 2020 and 2024.

At Delhi’s National Zoological Park, World Sparrow Day activities in 2025 included a sparrow count and the distribution of 100 nest boxes to students and visitors.

Why the Sparrow has Become an Urban Warning Sign

The house sparrow is not India’s most threatened bird, nor does its presence alone measure the health of an ecosystem. Its importance is different. It is a species that has learned to live alongside people. When its habitat changes, the effects can be observed at the level of homes, streets and neighbourhoods.

That makes the sparrow an accessible entry point into a much larger issue of how India’s rapidly expanding cities can accommodate its biodiversity as well as people.

India’s urban population and built environment will continue to grow. Development will bring new roads, buildings and infrastructure. The conservation challenge is not to stop that growth, but to understand what ecological space is being lost in the process. For the house sparrow, that could be something as small as a cavity in a wall, a patch of vegetation, a supply of insects or a quiet corner in which to raise its young.

The NSE listing marks a new chapter for India’s capital markets. Uday Tardalkar reflects on the exchange’s journey from screen-based trading and dematerialisation to retail participation, derivatives and investor education.

When the National Stock Exchange (NSE) emerged in the mid-1990s from the shadow of the 1992 securities scam, it did not merely introduce another trading venue—it dismantled the insular, paper-choked world of regional trading rings and rebuilt Indian capital markets on a foundation of satellite connectivity, automated limit-order matching, and central counterparty clearing. Over the past three decades, that architectural shift has transformed India from a nation of passive bank savers and physical gold accumulators into one of the world’s most dynamic equity ecosystems.

In this wide-ranging conversation with Dipin Damodharan, Uday Tardalkar—Chairperson and Independent Director at RoseMerc Limited, a member of the NSE’s Mumbai Regulatory and Investor Grievance Redressal Committee, and a veteran of nearly four decades in capital markets, including a stint heading operations at Tata TD Waterhouse Securities—reflects on the structural milestones that defined the NSE’s journey. He discusses the transition from 70-day paper-based IPO cycles to T+3 digital listings, the risks facing retail capital in speculative derivative markets, the vital role of the SME board in nurturing startups, and what it will take to cultivate a disciplined investor class as India marches toward its Viksit Bharat 2047 economic roadmap.

Edited excerpts:

Dipin Damodharan: Could you tell us about the historical relevance of the NSE in India’s capital market journey, specifically its origins and institutional importance?

Uday Tardalkar: As the saying goes, certain major institutions emerge out of adversity, and the NSE is a prime example. Following the 1992 Harshad Mehta securities scam, there was an urgent need for screen-based trading and structural transparency to safeguard investor interests.

A core group from IDBI led the initiative under Dr. R. H. Patil, who became the founding Managing Director and established the institution. The exchange commenced operations with the Wholesale Debt Market, followed shortly by the equity segment in late 1994. By expanding its reach to every nook and corner of the country, the NSE empowered retail investors to participate in the markets.

It was a watershed achievement in the history of Indian capital markets: ordinary citizens gained direct access, eliminating the geographic limitations and inefficiencies of regional stock exchanges. The NSE’s aggressive thrust on technology democratized market participation.

Dipin Damodharan: How did the broader financial ecosystem evolve alongside the exchange?

Uday Tardalkar: Portfolio diversification across asset classes has always been essential, and the NSE pioneered this multi-asset framework. It began with debt and equities, introduced derivatives trading in 2000 as India’s first exchange to do so, and went on to launch mutual fund order routing platforms, the Social Stock Exchange, and Electronic Gold Receipts (EGRs), alongside international trading infrastructure at GIFT City.

Because of this breadth, the NSE dominates both the cash and derivatives segments. For any exchange, liquidity is the ultimate benchmark, particularly for Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs). The NSE remains the clear leader on this front.

Dipin Damodharan: How did the post-1991 economic liberalization feed into the formation and operational structure of the NSE?

Uday Tardalkar: Economic liberalization gathered momentum from 1993 onward, reshaping how markets operated. In the pre-reform, paper-based era, public issues (IPOs) took upwards of 70 days to close and finalize, and physical share certificates were prone to bad deliveries and theft.

The NSE transformed this framework in partnership with the banking sector. Today, through UPI and the ASBA (Application Supported by Blocked Amount) mechanism, an IPO opens, closes, and lists within three working days (T+3). Capital never leaves an investor’s bank account until actual allotment; funds are simply blocked.

Equally vital was counterparty risk mitigation. Investors need the certainty that buying shares guarantees receipt of securities, and selling guarantees payment. To solve this, the NSE established the National Securities Clearing Corporation (now NSE Clearing), a dedicated clearing corporation that recently completed 30 years of operation. That infrastructure gave investors complete peace of mind.

Dipin Damodharan: Historically, retail participants were skeptical of equities. What role did the NSE play in reframing the stock market as a viable long-term investment channel?

Uday Tardalkar: In the open-outcry era, without electronic matching engines, retail clients relied entirely on physical contract notes mailed by brokers.

When the NSE launched computerized trading, order confirmation became transparent. By 2003, it rolled out nationwide internet trading. For younger generations who expect immediacy, the exchange provided an interface where buy and sell executions, along with price discoveries, were communicated in real time. That operational transparency replaced suspicion with confidence.

Dipin Damodharan: Stock market penetration in India still hovers under 10%. How can the exchange push further to democratize participation?

Uday Tardalkar: Opening a demat account is the first step toward market entry. India currently has over 20 crore demat accounts. While growth was gradual initially, the post-COVID period saw a significant inflection point, adding 2.5 to 3.5 million new accounts almost every month.

Beyond direct equity, mutual funds play an indispensable role. Today, retail engagement is no longer confined to Mumbai, Delhi, or Bengaluru. Tier-2 and Tier-3 centers—spanning from Kochi to Jammu, and Gandhinagar to Guwahati—are driving growth. The mutual fund industry’s emphasis on “Beyond-30” (B30) cities has broadened the investor base substantially.

Historically, Indian households favored physical assets: gold and real estate. That mindset is shifting toward financialization. Government vehicles like the National Pension System (NPS), which allocates systematically to equities, demonstrate how patient capital yields double-digit compounding over the long run. Supported by campaigns like “Mutual Funds Sahi Hai,” individuals are aligning investments with their financial goals and risk appetite.

Dipin Damodharan: Young investors often confuse long-term investing with short-term trading. How should they navigate this distinction?

Uday Tardalkar: The habit of checking smartphones constantly—much like scrolling through messaging apps—has conditioned retail traders to treat portfolio balances as intraday scorecards.

Equities are inherently long-term compounding instruments. For disciplined wealth creation, systematic investment plans (SIPs) in mutual funds provide the optimal route. If an individual has the analytical rigor to evaluate balance sheets, direct equity investing is viable, but it must be approached with a multi-year horizon.

Historically, conservative domestic investors leaned on the Public Provident Fund (PPF), which offers around 7.1% tax-free—roughly equivalent to a 10% pre-tax return. Yet over 15-year rolling horizons, equity indices have historically beaten fixed-income vehicles by generating 12% to 14% annualized returns.

Trying to time market peaks and troughs is futile; no one can accurately forecast turning points. Sectors rotate in cycles—we have moved from FMCG and IT dominance to infrastructure, defense, and emerging service economies. Directing capital into high-conviction businesses through cycles builds durable net worth; intraday trading does not.

Dipin Damodharan: Is there a gap in financial literacy among new entrants?

Uday Tardalkar: Expanding investor education remains essential. SEBI, alongside the stock exchanges and depositories like NSDL, conducts nationwide literacy programs. Crucially, these workshops are delivered in regional languages, which is non-negotiable for a multilingual country like India.

Financial planning must always follow a disciplined hierarchy:

• Secure adequate pure-term life insurance for household earners.
• Establish comprehensive health insurance cover.
• Build emergency liquidity before deploying surplus capital into risk assets.

Too many young entrants bypass this ladder and jump directly into the futures and options (F&O) segment. SEBI’s analytical studies have revealed that over 90% of individual retail traders lose capital in derivatives. Education must emphasize that wealth is built through compounding over decades, not overnight speculation.

Dipin Damodharan: How does the NSE maintain operational resilience given this massive expansion?

Uday Tardalkar: In its founding years, the NSE deployed VSAT technology to bypass terrestrial telecom limits and link broker terminals across Indian towns.

Operationally, the exchange serves as the nation’s financial barometer. Through major disruptions—including the 2005 Mumbai floods, market crises, and the COVID-19 lockdowns—the core trading engine functioned without interruption.

That resilience has accommodated exponential volume growth. A decade ago, monthly domestic SIP inflows stood at a fraction of what they are today; currently, monthly SIP collections routinely exceed ₹20,000–₹25,000 crore. Maintaining uninterrupted clearing, settlement, and trading continuity is what underpins this retail trust.

Dipin Damodharan: For a complete beginner, what is the ideal entry vehicle: trading or investing?

Uday Tardalkar: Investing—unequivocally.

While intraday traders supply short-term market liquidity, wealth creation requires ownership of productive businesses over time. A professional starting their career in their early twenties who commits capital to equity mutual funds or the NPS until age 60 can achieve life-changing compounding even at a 12% to 13% CAGR.

For retail participants:

• Avoid speculative trading: Derivatives should not be treated as a shortcut to profits.
• Leverage institutional research: Utilize free, verified corporate disclosures and equity research available on exchange portals.
• Work with qualified advisors: Match assets to timelines. For low risk, use debt instruments; for balanced growth, adopt dynamic hybrid funds (such as 65:35 equity-to-debt allocations).

Dipin Damodharan: How can India’s startup ecosystem utilize the exchange infrastructure effectively?

Uday Tardalkar: Listing directly on the main board requires stringent capital and track-record thresholds that most early-stage companies cannot meet. To bridge this, the NSE established the SME platform (NSE Emerge).

This board allows small and medium enterprises and growing startups to raise public growth capital with proportionate compliance requirements. Once an enterprise scales its balance sheet and revenue, it can migrate seamlessly to the main board. For the millions of micro and small enterprises across India, the SME board provides an institutional roadmap to scale into publicly held corporations.

Never commit capital out of haste or social media trends

Dipin Damodharan: Looking ahead toward the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, how do you see the capital markets supporting this transformation?

Uday Tardalkar: The national objective for 2047 is to transition India from a nation of passive savers into a nation of informed investors.

Financial inclusion laid the foundation: over 50 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts integrated millions into the formal banking system, while UPI streamlined capital mobilization. The next phase involves shifting surplus savings out of idle physical assets and unhedged liabilities into productive economic avenues: mutual funds, equities, and sovereign gold instruments.

A resilient economy requires diversified asset allocation. By distributing capital across equities, fixed income, and commodities rather than concentrating it in a single basket, households build enduring resilience.

Dipin Damodharan: If you had to identify the major milestones in the NSE’s history, what would they be?

Uday Tardalkar: Five key developments define its journey:

1. Screen-Based Trading: Transitioning from the physical open-outcry ring to transparent, electronic limit-order books via satellite terminals nationwide.
2. Novation and Central Counterparty Clearing: The establishment of the Clearing Corporation, which eliminated counterparty default risk.
3. Dematerialization via NSDL: Transitioning the market from physical paper certificates to electronic book-entry settlement in 1996, eliminating bad deliveries and counterfeit risks.
4. Product Diversification: Expanding beyond cash equities into index and stock derivatives, internet trading, mutual fund platforms, and Electronic Gold Receipts.
5. Global Benchmark Exchange Listing: As the NSE prepares for its domestic public listing on the BSE, its scale and profitability position it among the top market infrastructure institutions globally alongside the CME Group, ICE, and Nasdaq.

Dipin Damodharan: What is your concluding message on responsible investing for young market entrants?

Uday Tardalkar: The NSE’s core advisory sums it up best: “Soch Kar, Samajh Kar, Invest Kar” (Think, understand, and then invest).

Never commit capital out of haste or social media trends. If you lack the time or training to dissect corporate financial statements, route your savings through professional asset managers via mutual funds and systematic pension frameworks. Approach the market calmly, align your portfolio to realistic risk boundaries, and let time and compounding do the heavy lifting.

The Western Ghats, with a geological history stretching back hundreds of millions of years, is now a landscape where forests, farms and settlements coexist. Protecting it while accounting for generations of human habitation makes Keralam’s ESA boundary a particularly complex question. While there is broad recognition of the ecological importance of the Western Ghats, the question of which lands should fall within the ESA remains contentious.

Keralam is home to nearly a quarter of India’s plant diversity, with the Western Ghats accounting for much of this richness. The mountain range is also one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, supporting species found nowhere else.

For the people living across this landscape, however, the ESA debate concerns what happens to their farms, homes and private land if they fall within the proposed boundary?

The ESA: Already Shrunk Considerably

The area proposed for ESA status in Keralam has changed substantially since the Kasturirangan exercise. The High Level Working Group headed by K. Kasturirangan had identified 13,108 sq km across 123 villages in Kerala. Subsequent physical verification by the state resulted in a smaller proposal of 9,993.7 sq km.

The composition of this area is important. About 9,107 sq km is forest, while 886.7 sq km is non-forest land. It is this non-forest portion that has become a source of concern for residents.

Environment Minister of Keralam, Sunny Joseph said people had been requesting that private properties and agricultural land should not be included in this category. He said there was no need for unnecessary anxiety over the ESA proposal and stressed the importance of creating greater public awareness about what the designation actually means.

The concern is not new. Kerala has previously sought the exclusion of populated areas and agricultural land during the process of identifying the ESA.

Why Keralam’s Landscape Makes the Debate Complicated

Keralam cannot easily separate its Western Ghats into neat blocks of forest and human habitation. Agricultural land, plantations and settlements are scattered through the mountain landscape. In several places, human activity exists close to forests and wildlife habitats, making the question of ecological sensitivity more nuanced than a simple forest-versus-development debate.

Oommen V Oommen, who headed the committee that examined Kerala’s ESA proposal, said the committee had interacted with people living in the Western Ghats region before making its recommendations. He pointed to the distinction made in the Kasturirangan exercise between natural and cultural landscapes.

According to Oommen, about 37% was identified as natural landscape and 63% as cultural landscape. The natural landscape, he said, should be completely protected. Farmland and other private properties were not included in the natural landscape identified for protection.

That distinction is important in Keralam, where people have lived in the Western Ghats for generations. The ESA discussion is therefore not simply about how much land should be protected, but about identifying which landscapes have the ecological characteristics that warrant stronger protection.

Joseph also pointed to Keralam’s densely populated landscape while contrasting it with states such as Tamil Nadu. Conservation boundaries that work in sparsely populated forest landscapes can have very different implications in a state where agriculture, settlements and forests are closely interwoven.

Keralam’s forests themselves cover a substantial part of the state, while the Western Ghats are central to its ecological security. The range feeds most of the state’s major rivers and supports a concentration of endemic species. While on the other hand there are many families depending on agriculture and tourism in these areas.

The Map is Changing

Even the 9,993.7 sq km figure is not necessarily the final boundary. The Keralam government has subsequently sought a further reduction in the proposed ESA and the exclusion of additional villages and populated and agricultural areas.

That makes the present debate less about whether Keralam needs to protect the Western Ghats and more about where protection is most necessary and how accurately those areas can be identified.

For residents, the distinction matters. An ESA notification can bring restrictions on certain categories of development and land use, making clarity over the boundary crucial. For conservationists, meanwhile, leaving ecologically important landscapes outside protection could weaken the purpose of the designation.

The main dilemma faced by Keralam is how they should focus on protecting a globally significant biodiversity landscape without treating every inhabited or cultivated patch of the Western Ghats in the same way.