A million new demat accounts opened for third straight month, shows data

A million new dematerialised accounts were opened for a third straight month in August, taking the total retail accounts tally to 44.46 million. Since the start of the year, close to 6 million demat accounts have got opened, a record for any calendar year, say industry participants.
 

The surge in new account openings has been underpinned by the rally in stocks. From the Covid-19 lows in March, the benchmark indices had jumped more than 50 per cent. Several individual stocks have more than doubled luring many investors towards direct investing.

 

Ease of account openings, thanks to online-eKYC and user-friendly mobile trading apps, too, supported the trend. Also, with many officegoers working from home, they have extra free-time to trade, say industry watchers. About 1.01 million new accounts were added in August, slightly less than 1.11 million in the previous month.
 

September is also expected to see good addition in new accounts. However, it remains to be seen how the latest bout of volatility impacts retail investors’ sentiment. Excluding Friday’s 2.3- per cent rebound, the benchmark indices had dropped 7 per cent in previous six trading sessions.