India has witnessed a massive surge in number of stock market investors since FY15. Latest data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that the country had 87 million investors as of January 31, 2024, against 17.9 million investors at the end of March 2015, up nearly 389 per cent.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh (UP) registered a substantial rise in investors during the same period. As a result, their share in total investors stands at 10.7% at present against 6.9% in FY14. There were around 9.36 million investors from UP as of January 2024 against 1.24 million in March 2015. Uttar Pradesh overtook Gujarat in November 2022 to take the second spot and has maintained that position since then.
With a 17.4% share, Maharashtra continued to hold the top position in terms of registered investors. Its share was 19.9% in FY15. There were 15.3 million stock market investors in Maharashtra as of January 31, 2024, against 3.55 million on March 31, 2015. Gujarat (9%), West Bengal (5.6%), Karnataka (5.6%) and Rajasthan (5.6%) are among the other major states which contribute most of the registered stock market investors. Together, nearly 54% of registered stock market investors come from these 6 states.
With an investor base of 4.86 million or 5.5% share, Tamil Nadu was next in the list. It was followed by Madhya Pradesh (4.18 million or 4.8% share), Andhra Pradesh (4.05 million or 4.6% share), Delhi (40.50 lakh or 4.6% share) and Bihar 3.59 million or 4.1% share). The share of Bihar was just 1.6% in FY15 with an investor base of 294,000.
Region-wise, North India remained on top with a registered investor base of 31 million as of January 2024, followed by West India at 28 million, South India at 18 million and East India at 10 million. The number of investors has grown at an ever-increasing rate, touching 20 million in 2016, doubling to 40 million in 2021 and further doubling to 80 million in 2023 in the span of just over two years.