The world over people invest a large chunk of their savings in shares and the stock markets. There are excellent reasons and terrific advantages of doing so:

• Your capital appreciates quickly. Over the long term, investment in shares can easily offer a return at least double of what is possible from fixed deposits in banks, for instance.

• You also get regular income through dividends.

• Shares are a readily encashable investment unlike, say, investment in property.

• Investments in shares are very easy to manage.

• You don't need a lot of money to start. Many of India's 50 million shareholders have investments ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 in the stock market.

S.S. Grewal was a former IAS officer who quit the bureaucracy to devote himself full-tilt to the stock market. He had an educational background spanning science, engineering, literature and economics, and was a practising investment consultant.

Mr. Grewal wrote four bestselling books on the stock market, including Making Money on the Stock Market: A Practical Handbook (1983), Profitable Investment in Shares: A Beginner’s Guide, Successful Stock Market Investing (1987) and The Thinking Investor (1995), all published by Vision Books.