On new investor additions, Maharashtra is No.1 again

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demat accounts. Analysts said more migrants to Maharashtra entering the capital markets, and a high base in UP may have combined to help the western state reclaim the top slot. Gujarat saw the third highest addition of new investors at 230,000, Rajasthan 140,000 and West Bengal 120,000.

The five states alone contributed 52% of new investor registrations across 25 top states. The data applies only to the country’s largest stock exchange NSE, which enjoyed a 91.5% market share ( ₹20.79 trillion out of ₹22.72 trillion gross turnover) in the cash equity segment, with BSE a distant second. This makes NSE a proxy for developments in the capital markets.

“Maharashtra attracts the highest number of migrants among India’s states and many of these young working-age people must have accounted for the fresh registrations," said Alok Churiwala, managing director of Churiwala Securities. He attributed UP’s rise to “rising awareness" on equity investments among educated masses, especially in urban regions like Noida. In February 2023, UP toppled Maharashtra as the state with highest new investor registrations.

The upsurge in market participation is borne out by the increase in cumulative demat accounts at depositories NSDL and CDSL since the pandemic. The number of client demat accounts, where securities are housed in electronic form, grew over threefold from 40.8 million at the end of FY20 to 143.9 million as of 31 January in the current fiscal year. UP’s growth in investor base has been prolific, growing from just 2.3 million at the end of FY20 to 9.01 million by the end of December 2023.