In the battle of brokerages, traditional brokers are fighting back

Discount brokers have sustained the rise of the equity cult and gained market share. Now the old guard looks to strike back

The equity cult has grown at a rapid pace in India in the last few years, with retail investors latching on to the stock markets like never before.

At 126.6 million, the number of dematerialised (demat) accounts, where investors hold their securi­ties in electronic form for trading purposes, are at record high levels. The growth rate, on an annualised basis, stood at 27 per cent in 2022-2023, up from barely 6 per cent a decade ago.

In fact, between 2012-13 and 2019-20, demat account growth ranged from 6 per cent to 15 per cent. It jumped to 35 per cent