Retail investors continue to flock to the stock markets, shows data

The penetration has improved substantially with total demat accounts tally jumping 44 per cent from 43 million a year ago

Individual investors are coming to the stock markets in droves. The Central Depository Services India (CDSL) has opened average 1.8 million demat accounts a month this year, three times more than average 573,793 accounts opened a month in the first half of last year.

The number of active demat accounts across investors types with CDSL crossed the 40-million mark for the first time last week. The National Securities Depository (NSDL) handles another 22.5 million demat accounts. This takes the demat account tally in India past 62 million — still less than 5 per cent of its population.

The penetration, however, has improved substantially with total demat accounts tally jumping 44 per cent from 43 million a year ago.

On a YTD basis, growth in demat accounts has been 25 per cent. Digital account opening, buoyancy in the stock market, ease of trading through mobile applications, and work from home are said to be the key drivers for growth in demat accounts.