There is a comforting story floating through Indian financial circles right now: that the Indian stock market has become “FII-proof,” sustained indefinitely by the unstoppable rise of retail SIP investors. But beneath the optimism lies a more fragile reality. As corporate tax policy, AI-driven labour shifts, rising household debt, and middle-class financial stress begin colliding, the assumptions supporting India’s retail-investor boom may be weaker than they appear. This is an attempt to examine the structural pressures building underneath the surface.