A disagreement over retail investing and asset allocation between D-street experts Samir Arora and Shankar Sharma turned into a friendly social media exchange, with the former defending retail investors’ preference for SIPs while questioning the case for investing in real estate.
In response to Arora’s take on his market advice, Sharma gave a light hearted reply and asked him to choose between four options describing their friendship, while noting that his opinion on SIPs and mutual funds will not impact investments in these intruments
Sharma’s comment read, “MCQ: A. ” Dost dost na raha, pyaar pyaar na raha”
B. ” Dosti imtihaan leti hai, doston ki jaan leti hai”
C. “Dushman na karey dost ne woh kaam Kiya hai”
D.” Dosti bani rahey”
Sirjee, kaun sa wala anukool hai.
( Baki, Sirjee, don’t worry. Mere kehne sey na SIP rukega, na MF. All is good. 👍. Aapka AUM badhta rahega, yeh mere Dil sey kaamna hai.”
Arora replied to the comment saying, “Bura na mano baat ka, yeh pyaar hai gila nahin (Don’t feel bad about what I said. This is love not a grievance.)”
It was never Retail investors model to worry about what FIIs will do when they (retail) do their SIPs and still they are being criticized.
Retail did their job exceptionally well in investing in liquid mutual fund/stock market investments which post tax did better than keeping… https://t.co/cRc9UzZ2Nm
— Samir Arora (@Iamsamirarora) June 10, 2026
Arora defended SIPs as a sound instrument for retail investor. In a post on social media platform X, he said, “It was never Retail investors model to worry about what FIIs will do when they (retail) do their SIPs and still they are being criticized. Retail did their job exceptionally well in investing in liquid mutual fund/stock market investments which post tax did better than keeping money in FDs and this is even after 2 years of poor performance of the market.
He added, “Advising retail to focus on illiquid, non transparent, high transaction cost, large ticket price “real estate” investment is poor advice indeed.”
ALSO READ: Shankar Sharma’s Hot Take: SIPs Are A Great Product, Just Not For Retail Investors
This come after Shankar Sharma’s comments at NDTV Profit’s Townhall show raised concerns over retails investors investing in SIPs. He mentioned that SIPs are a great financial product to make money and growth one’s wealth through risk-free compunding, however, the asset product is not retail investors.
SIPs have made a lot of money but not for SIP investors. It has not money for the average Joe as much as it has for PE/VCs, family offices and FIIs. So, its a great product but only for these four major selling groups,” he said.
The ace investor remained bullish on real estate, fixed deposits and gold for retail investors calling them a good investment opportunity for Indians, drawing mixed responses on social media.
One of the social media users wrote, “While real estate can act as a great diversifier for high-net-worth individuals, recommending it as a blanket alternative to retail investors who thrive on flexibility and compounding is highly impractical.”
Another added, “Large ticket real estate purchases is for the big boys. For young professionals, SIPs is a good way to get exposure into the stock market and create a corpus.”
Meanwhile, a user agreeing with Sharma’s advice said, “Gold has tripled in last 5 years and the only investment which is a hedge against inflation and dollar appreciation.”