Equity Cult: Number of demat accounts tops 10 crore

Mumbai: The total number of demat accounts in India touched 10 crore in August for the first time ever as appetite among domestic retail investors to trade in stocks directly - that picked up steam after the onset of Covid pandemic - remained undiminished.

Investor accounts at Central Depository Services (CDSL), India's largest depository, crossed seven crore as on August 31, pushing the tally beyond the milestone. As on March 31, 2020, the total number of investor accounts with CDSL and National Securities Depositories were at 4.09 crore.

"Demat account surpassing 100 million for the first time shows that the culture of equity investing is slowly but steadily picking up in India, especially in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, which were under-served till now," said B Gopkumar, MD, Axis Securities. "Higher participation of investors bodes well for the depth and development of equity markets in India, along with the availability of equity capital to companies through primary issuances."


In August alone, 22 lakh new accounts were added as the market rebound encouraged investors to dip their toes in stocks after the nine-month slump in equities.

The new investor account additions picked up pace at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 when the lockdown prompted several investors to test their fortunes in stock trading. Low interest rates also forced many of them to shift money to equities. Earlier, investors mostly relied on mutual funds for exposure to equities.

Since the start of the lockdowns, many individuals are handling their own money, partly disillusioned by the inability of several actively- managed equity schemes to beat their benchmark indices.

About 1.03 crore new accounts were added between April and August 2022. Currently, retail investors command 52% of the market share in average daily turnover, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) contribute 19% and 29%, respectively. Brokers said many newbie traders have opened demat accounts to trade in futures and options to make a quick buck.

"Retail investors investing directly and through mutual funds had played an important role in supporting the market when FPIs went on a selling spree in India from October 2021 through June 2022," said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services. "Retail investors participating in wealth creation through the stock market is also a desirable development."