The number of Demat accounts in the country crossed the 100 million mark for the first time in August. According to data released by depository firms National Securities Depository Limited (NDSL) and Central Depository Services (CDSL), over 2.2 million new accounts were opened last month – in four months. This brought the cumulative figure to 100.5 million.
The number of Demat accounts in India stood at 40.9 million in March 2020, just before the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. This growth has been made possible due to the sharp jump in the market, reduced working hours due to lockdown and restrictions, change in the work-from-home system, ease of account opening, increase in mobile and data penetration besides fall in brokerage rates.
Nehal Vora, MD & CEO, CDSL said, “Having 100 million Demat accounts is a big achievement. The acceptance of Demat accounts and securities as an investment avenue is a testament to the backdrop of growth in household savings. NSDL Executive Vice President Prashant Wagal said, “We have seen substantial growth in Demat accounts in the last two years. It is equally important that the custody value of NSDL increased from Rs 174 trillion in April 2020 to Rs 320 trillion ($ 4 trillion) in August 2022. This indicates the participation of both retail and institutional investors. ,
As a listed company, CDSL has a higher market share in terms of the number of accounts, but NDSL is larger when it comes to assets under asset custody value (AUC). CDSL operated 71.6 million Demat accounts with an AUC of Rs 38.5 trillion at the end of August. NSDL, on the other hand, had 28.9 million accounts with an AUC of Rs 320 trillion.
