The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has crossed a significant milestone, with its investor base skyrocketing to 90 million unique registrations as of February 29th, 2024. This substantial surge marks a testament to the growing interest and participation in India’s financial markets.
The NSE’s total client codes now stand at a staggering 169 million, showcasing a robust growth trajectory fueled by various factors including digitization, increased investor awareness, and favorable market performance. Over the past few years, the pace of unique investor registrations has been on an upward trajectory, with the latest addition of one crore investors occurring in a record time of just five months. Sriram Krishnan, Chief Business Development Officer at NSE, attributes this remarkable growth to several key drivers, including the simplification of KYC processes, extensive investor awareness programs, and sustained positive market sentiment. The deepening participation extends beyond equities to various exchange-traded financial instruments such as ETFs, REITs, InvITs, government bonds, and corporate bonds.
Furthermore, the geographical distribution of these new investors highlights a widespread trend across the nation. North India leads with approximately 42% of new investors, closely followed by West, South, and East India. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra emerge as significant contributors, together constituting over a quarter of all new additions.