Demat account additions pick up on D-Street rebound

Mumbai: India added more than 2.5 million demat accounts in June driven by recovery in the markets, marking the biggest additions since February, as key indices Nifty 50 and Sensex advanced 1.35 and 2.3%, respectively, in this period.As of June-end, the Central Depository Services (India) or CDSL reported it has nearly 186 million investor accounts.

NSDL (National Securities Depository) said it had 45.6 million demat accounts on its platform as of June 30, making a total of 231.5 million demat accounts in India."Demat account additions picked up in June as market sentiment improved following the easing of geopolitical concerns that had weighed on equities in the preceding months," said Ashish Rathi, chief operating officer and whole-time director at HDFC Securities.

"The announcements around the proposed NSE and Jio IPOs may have also encouraged investors to open new accounts to maximise their application opportunities and improve their chances of allotment."While the pace of additions was the fastest in four months, the maximum number of accounts in 2026 were added in January, at 3.6 million additions, coinciding Nifty 50's life highs of 26373.2 on January 5.

This was followed by 2.8 million net new accounts in February.132274737The slowdown was caused by the uncertainty in Indian markets, and a sharp fall in equities across the board due to the start of the US-Iran conflict at the end of February."Greater participation in the broader markets, particularly across the mid- and small-cap segments, has renewed retail interest, while continued primary-market activity and increasingly seamless digital onboarding are bringing new investors into the capital markets," said Amit Majumdar, group chief strategy officer, Angel OneMajumdar said that broadening of investment opportunities beyond direct equities to ETFs, bonds and primary market issuances through digital platforms is helping deepen engagement and expand participation beyond traditional equity trading.Going ahead as well, addition of newer participants would depend on how Indian markets behave.Rathi said demat account growth is linked to market performance, investor confidence and trading activity, and will continue to be relative to these factors going ahead. ...