Infosys’s stock carried an issue price of only Rs 95 per share soon after it had been listed in 1993. Driven by sound corporate governance practices and large deals, the Bangalore-based startup has evolved into an IT major as we know today. The company’s stock has since increased several fold over the last 26 years. An investment of Rs 10,000 in Infosys shares back in 1993 would be worth more than Rs 2 crore today! If investment in equities brings such cool returns, why are average investors often hesitant to try their luck in the stock market? Investors assume that the sentiments driving institutional equities are largely unpredictable. Stock prices, they feel, sometimes turn out to be really good and at other times awfully bad. Again, for a lot of investors, equity is a relatively unfamiliar financial instrument and the one that seems to be loaded with risks. It’s true that a stock’s past performance is not an indicator of future results. However, funda