New Delhi, Dec 23
India is seeing at least 30 million new demat accounts being opened every year since 2021, and nearly every one in four is now a women investor, indicating an increasing prevalence of using capital market as a channel of financialisation of savings, SBI Research said on Monday.
The report from the State Bank of India’s Economic Research Department stated that owing to this, the total demat accounts in the country crossed 150 million (of which 92 million are unique investors on NSE) in FY24 as compared to a paltry 22 million in FY14.
“This year, the number of new demat accounts may cross the 40 million mark,” said Dr Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Adviser, SBI, adding that apart from a few states, the participation of women increased more than national average in FY25 as compared to FY22.
Delhi (29.8 per cent), Maharashtra (27.7 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (27.5 per cent) exhibit higher female representation than the pan-India average of 23.9 per cent in FY25, while states such as Bihar (15.4 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (18.2 per cent) and Odisha (19.4 per cent) had sub-20 per cent female share in their respective registered investor bases, the findings showed.
Declining mean/median age and increasing share of less than 30-year age individuals reflects the influx of relatively younger investors in the markets over the last few years, driven by technological advancements, lower trading costs and increased access to information.