What goes up must come down, warned market experts when Sensex was touching record heights a few weeks back.

Therefore, when markets started sliding recently, it should not have come as a surprise. Yet marketmen seem to be dumb-founded by what they term as a 'cataclysmic fall'.

The government along with the finance ministry have pulled up their socks in their bid to explore the reasons.

In an attempt to seek an answer, Indrani Roy Mitra of rediff.com spoke to market analysts, traders and head honchos of business. In the next few days, we will bring you a series of interviews which apart from focusing on the issue will also provide guidelines to investors.

Excerpts of an interview with Rupa Naik, executive director, All India Association of Industries:

For the past few days the markets have been dropping like never before. Do you think this is a 'correction' or is there more to it than that?

Yes, I feel it is a 'correction' but should have been done in a  phased manner.

Everyone talks about the fundamentals of the Indian economy being strong, then why this historic market meltdown?

The fundamentals of economy are still strong but this meltdown was expected as the market needed to correct itself. However, I do feel such drastic measures could have been avoided.

It appears as if the Indian stock market is safe only for foreign institutional investors (FIIs) or big domestic funds, while the small investor is being slaughtered. What is your opinion on this?

It may be true but small investors are also very bullish.

Do you believe that the Indian stock markets are regulated well enough to protect the small investor?

Yes, but small investors should be cautious, always.

Market gurus like Marc Faber and Hemen Kothari say that India is in a 10-year Bull Run phase. Do you agree? Why?

Yes, because India is doing exceptionally well in all the sectors of economy.

Where should the small investor invest now? Seeing that the stock market is rising to new heights one day and falling like never before the next, should he enter the market at all?

At the moment, small investors should wait and watch.

Should small investors just sell off their stocks and run from the market? Or should they depend more on mutual funds for investment?

No they should not add to the panic. They can depend on mutual funds for safety but they should choose the right kind of mutual funds.

What stocks or sectors should retail investors look at now?

They must now focus on pharma, IT, textiles, engineering and infrastructure.

What according to you are the mistakes to avoid for small investors, especially during such volatile times?

Small investors should avoid panic and over trading.

What according to you are the basic norms of smart investing?

Know the market moves, choose the right companies and get a  good wealth management consultant to guide  you..