Retail Rush: Demat accounts with CDSL cross 4-crore mark

Mumbai: Demat accounts at Central Depository Services (CDSL) crossed a record four crore mark in June, underscoring the growing influence of retail investors in equities. With this, the total number of demat accounts in India held by CDSL and rival National Securities Depository (NSDL) have risen to six crore as on June 30 up from 4.02 crore in February 2020.

The surge in demat accounts began in March 2020, when the shutdown on account of Covid-19 prompted individual investors to venture directly into the market. Till then, these investors mostly relied on equity mutual funds. With fixed deposit interest rates around their lowest levels, the appetite for stocks is high.

Currently, retail investors command 70% of the market share in the average daily turnover while turnover of institutions, including foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs), declined to 30% from a high of 89.21% in May 2015.

It was 59.38% in March last year when the share of individual investors started rising.

“This journey of financial inclusion has to enhance to engage with a higher number of persons to foray into the securities market to achieve the objective to make India a capital market hub that is highly focused on corporate governance, technology, investor protection, transparency and sustainability,” said Nehal Vora, MD of CDSL in a release.