When you ask moms what their role is, the answers can vary widely in terms of responsibilities, routines, and expectations. Dig a little deeper, however, and a common thread begins to emerge: preparing children for independence.
Families spend years helping children build emotional resilience, social confidence, and academic ability, with the hope that one day, they will become adults who can lead the world on their own terms. Yet one of the most important life skills is strangely missing from many beginner conversations: how to manage money.
India’s financial literacy gap
In many Indian households, money management remains one of the least discussed life skills. Conversations about earnings are common. Conversations about saving, investing, compounding, or long-term financial planning appear to be infrequent, especially during childhood. In many cases, individuals begin learning about money only when they begin earning it, when financial decisions become immediate, and are often shaped by trial and error.
This distinction becomes particularly important as India’s investment culture continues to expand rapidly. According to the National Institute of Securities Markets, what is the number of demat accounts in India? crossed 15 croreshave almost doubled over the past four years and put the country among the world’s most retail-active investment markets. There has been a significant increase in participation through mutual funds, SIPs, fintech platforms and easy market access.
But participation and understanding have not increased at the same pace. The World Economic Forum notes only that 27% of Indian adults are considered financially literate, much lower than the average of 52% in advanced economies. Overall, this tells us that more Indians are investing today than ever before, but structured financial understanding still remains uneven.
This puts us at a significant disadvantage because financial behavior, like any other habit, is formed gradually. Learning to save consistently, understanding delayed gratification, recognizing the value of long-term investments, or simply becoming comfortable discussing money are not skills that are developed overnight. They are strengthened by familiarity and repetition.
Importance of starting early
Time also plays a central role. The most common perception among long-term investors is that they regret not starting earlier. Compounding keeps the reward period the same as the contributions. Even small investments made consistently over a long period of time can grow significantly over time, creating a meaningful financial foundation. This expands both financial flexibility and long-term security.
Starting early extends the runway. More importantly, it normalizes the idea that financial planning is not something you need to do only once you’re old enough or earning enough, but rather it’s something you do throughout your life.
It’s a change in mindset that takes initiatives like this nps vatsalya scheme Trying to encourage. Offered by the Government of India and regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), NPS Vatsalya is designed as a long-term financial protection initiative for minors, allowing parents and guardians and even children to start investing for themselves from an early age, expanding investment horizons while encouraging structured saving habits over time.
The plan is designed to remain accessible. Accounts can be opened for minors with minimum contribution by parents or guardians ₹Rs 250 and no upper contribution limit. Contributions can also be made by relatives and friends, extending the idea of ​​long-term financial support beyond immediate caregivers. On attaining adulthood, the subscriber can choose to continue NPS Vatsalya till the age of 21 years or convert to a standard NPS account structure or exit with the accumulated savings. NPS Vatsalya or the corpus used for lump sum withdrawal and purchase of annuity on maturity of NPS is eligible for tax exemption, subject to applicable provisions.
Minimum investment amount is reasonable ₹10, which is so little that a child can contribute from his pocket money. Or choose to receive the birthday contribution there using the QR code of your NPS Vatsalya account. It also creates opportunities for earlier conversations about how investing, compounding, and delayed gratification work, especially when you consider inflation over the long term. When exposed to these ideas at an early age, they become part of the child’s financial blueprint, and subtly guide financial decisions for life.
A different approach to financial awareness
On the occasion of Mother’s Day 2026, PFRDA, in collaboration with Hindustan Times, brings this idea to a more personal and accessible space Large scale engagement campaign conducted on HT Pace School Network in Delhi NCR. The campaign reached over a million students in 200 schools through specially designed Mother’s Day greeting cards that encouraged children to create personalized messages for their mothers. The greeting card introduced families to the NPS Vatsalya initiative through an integrated message about the NPS Vatsalya scheme, along with a QR code that provided additional information.
The campaign was extended through digital medium A dedicated microsite hosted on hindustantimes.comWhere students can upload selfies with their mothers, write personalized notes and create customized greeting cards. The initiative received 8,889 submissions, including over 6,500 selfie entries and over 2,300 personalized greeting messages. Selected entries will also be featured in the Hindustan Times Student Edition newspaper.
What made the campaign remarkable was not just the scale of participation, but also the way it indirectly reached financial awareness. Instead of framing the conversation around technical financial products or investment jargon, it placed the topic in a familiar emotional context: care, responsibility, and long-term support. In doing so, it created an organic bridge between parents, children, and conversations about future planning.
Formation of financial behavior over time
More importantly, the campaign created an early practical entry point into financial awareness. Financial literacy is often seen as a specialized topic that individuals encounter only when they enter the workforce. But money-related habits are deeply practical. Confidence in financial decision-making, comfort in investing and the discipline required for long-term planning are often shaped very early on, through exposure, observation and interaction.
A child who grows up understanding the basics of saving and compounding may approach adulthood differently than someone who encounters these concepts for the first time under financial pressure. Over time, even small actions – contributing regularly, tracking growth, patience and understanding risk – can impact how individuals think about money, stability, and freedom.
Today’s minors are tomorrow’s workforce and nation builders. As India moves towards becoming a developed economy, this young population will not only contribute to economic growth but will also take up the increasing responsibility of supporting the aging population. With increasing life expectancies and changing family structures, these future adults will need to plan for greater self-reliance and longevity – both of which require stronger financial decision-making muscles. Then again, early financial planning may increasingly become an economic necessity.
As India’s investment landscape continues to expand, the bigger challenge may no longer be just participation, but preparation. The question is not just whether more people are investing, but also whether future generations are developing the confidence and understanding needed to make financial decisions responsibly. Initiatives that introduce these conversations earlier and into everyday family contexts could ultimately play a key role in shaping that change.
Note to readers: This article has been produced by HT Brand Studio on behalf of the brand and has no journalistic/editorial involvement with Hindustan Times.
