Demat accounts in India hit record 185 million in 2024

New Delhi, Jan 9
As Indian equity benchmarks continue to outperform the global peers, the number of total demat accounts increased to record 185 million in 2024.

The number of demat accounts increased by around 46 million over the last one year period, representing an average increase of 3.8 million accounts per month.

According to the NSDL and CDSL data, 2024 saw a 33 per cent increase in new demat accounts compared to 2023, taking the total number of demat accounts to 185.3 million.

The number of demat accounts in India has been increasing rapidly since the Covid-19 period. The reason for the jump in the number of demat accounts is attributed to factors such as easy account opening process, increasing use of smartphones and favorable market returns. The number of demat accounts has more than quadrupled in the last five years from 39.3 million in 2019.

According to a latest report by SBI Research, 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.

“This year, the number of new demat accounts may cross the 40 million mark,” according to 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.

In the last 10 years, funds mobilised by Indian companies from capital markets has increased more than 10-fold, from Rs 12,068 crore in FY14 to Rs 1.67 lakh crore in the calendar year 2024.

The NSE market capitalisation has increased by more than 6 times to Rs 441 lakh crore in FY25 as compared to FY14.