Retail investors in India have made remarkable strides over the last decade, with their holdings as direct and indirect participants (via mutual funds) increasing more than tenfold, according to the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) annual data highlight report.
The total investor base in India crossed the 10-crore milestone in August 2024, with an additional one crore investors joining within just five months, bringing the total to 10.9 crore as of December 2024. The year also set a record with 2.3 crore new investors, marking the highest-ever annual addition.
India’s Global Market Standing
India retains its position as the fourth-largest market globally, with its market capitalization surpassing $5 trillion in 2024. The United States, China (including Hong Kong), and Japan hold the top three positions in terms of market size.
Retail Investment Trends
Retail investors now constitute a full 17.6% of the total market-cap of NSE-listed companies, from 10.9% in 2014. Their direct retail holdings are at 9.6%, while through MFs, their participation is up at 8%, up 2.9% over the last ten years.
The household equity portfolio in India has also seen such growth, reaching Rs 82.5 lakh crore this September, clocking up a CAGR of around 25% since the year 2014. Together, household equity investors made huge gains of around Rs 13.2 lakh crores in 2024, encouraged by strong performances across market indices.
Investor registrations have increased manifold, as now investors are present in 99.84% of pin codes in India, except for about 30. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat together account for one-third of the country’s total investor base. Uttar Pradesh topped the new registrations in 2024, with a 29.7% share over Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, in the newer investors’ addition, some of the major states like Bihar saw 40.5 percent, Rajasthan 30.3, and Uttar Pradesh 36.2 percent growth in their fresh investor tally. Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Surat, and Ahmedabad contributed to 15% each of the new investors during the year.
Regionally, North India accounted for the largest number of investors at 3.94 crore, followed by West India at 3.31 crore. Whereas the median age of investors has decreased from 41.1 years in 2020 to 35.8 years in 2024, reflecting a bigger involvement of younger investors, women investors are now 24% of the total investor base. This is a slight increase from 23% in 2023 and shows a very positive trend toward gender diversity in investing.
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Source: Moneycontrol
News Desk
