Influence of Financial Influencers on Gen Z Investment Behaviour in India: Digital Investing, Behavioural Biases, and ESG-SDG Implications
"Debasmita Behera", Premank Soni, Dr. Kanika
Abstract
India's retail investment landscape is being reshaped by the interaction of digital finance, creator-led communication, and a new generation of market participants. Gen Z has entered investing through mobile trading apps, short-form video, social media communities, and platform-native financial education rather than through the advisor-led pathways that influenced earlier generations. This paper examines how financial influencers, or finfluencers, shape Gen Z investment behaviour in India and asks whether such digital influence can be aligned with broader ESG and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) priorities. The paper is review-based and synthesizes twenty recent studies supplied for the assignment together with a limited set of official market and regulatory sources used only to establish the Indian context. The analysis is organized around three objectives: the influence of finfluencers on investment awareness, attitudes, and decision-making; the role of social media platforms and content credibility in shaping investment choices and risk perception; and the impact of finfluencer content on asset preference, investing frequency, and long-term financial planning. The review shows that finfluencers reduce psychological and informational barriers to market participation, but the same features that improve access - relatability, speed, virality, and emotional storytelling - also amplify herding, overconfidence, fear of missing out, and short-termism. Financial literacy and regulatory awareness appear to moderate these effects, while platform design influences how quickly advice is trusted and acted upon. The paper argues that digital influence can support SDG 4, SDG 8, SDG 10, and SDG 13 only when creator activity is embedded in a stronger governance architecture based on disclosure, accountability, literacy, and ethical communication. The study contributes an India-focused synthesis of an emerging literature and proposes a conceptual pathway linking finfluencer exposure, perceived credibility, behavioural biases, and investment outcomes.
Keywords: Finfluencers, Generation Z, investment behaviour, India, social media, behavioural finance, financial literacy, ESG, SDGs
