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In India, knowing how many demat accounts there are helps us see how the country’s investment scene is changing. These accounts are very important for the financial world there because so many people are entering into the stock market lately. Now, by 2024, there’s a really big number of demat accounts in India. It shows that more people are getting into the financial markets and are an advocate for investing online.
The Growth of Demat Accounts in India
Seeing a lot of people in India getting Demat accounts makes it clear that more people are understanding the stock market and wanting to take part. A major issue with Demat accounts is they manage stocks using computers online. This state of affairs means you do not hold a paper that says you own a small part of a company. You manage everything on a computer instead of using paper certificates, and that makes buying or selling shares quicker and more secure.
In India, the number of demat accounts grew very quickly to more than 140 million by the end of 2024, as reported by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL). Just two years before, in 2022, we were dwelling in place 100 million accounts. This massive growth in demat accounts from one year to the next proves that regular people are starting to buy and sell company shares to make their money bigger.
Factors Driving the Surge
In India, a large amount of things have made demat accounts grow very quickly. To start off, because nearly everyone’s using technology and apps on their phones for trading, people from major cities to small towns can now easily invest. Apps such as Zerodha, Groww, and Upstox have made it very easy to start and take care of demat accounts, pulling in many new investors.
Also, when people were stuck at home during the pandemic and saw their usual savings not doing so great, they started looking at the stock market. A lot of new people started learning about stocks because the internet made it easy to learn and find data. In addition, after everything started to get back to normal, there were many courses pushing more people in India to place their money into investments.
The organization of government’s moves to cut down on how much it costs to do things and to make it simpler for people to sign up for demat accounts are also assisting. This means people can enter demat accounts more smoothly. In addition, with all the effort to get everything done through the internet and fintech companies becoming more popular, there’s another strong reason for this growth.
Who Are the New Investors?
Young ones are really getting into investing nowadays. A little unexpectedly, almost 60% of all new Demat accounts that were set up in 2024 are owned by people who are younger than 35, as per what a major brokerage firm reported. We are looking at millennials and Gen Z here, who for a lot of them, are trying out investments for the first time.
These days, there are significantly more younger investors than before. The reason, they’re very good with technology and truly completely like using apps and online tools to keep an eye on their investments.
In 2024, about 25% of new demat accounts were opened by women, which was from 18% in 2020. This change shows that more women are starting to manage their money and being financially independent. It’s definitely worth mentioning how women are joining the stock market more now.
Case Study: Zerodha’s Contribution
Zerodha is a very big brokerage firm in India. And it’s encouraging many people to open Demat accounts because they ask for little money for trading and their platforms are simple to understand. They said that by the end of 2024, they’ve gained over 15 million active users! That’s a really big part of all the Demat accounts in India.
They’ve been very important in getting more individuals to start investing.
Zerodha is changing how people in India think about investing their money, which is really great for something we call a fintech company. They’ve got many wonderful webinars, blogs, and tools that make learning about the stock market very easy, something that wasn’t this straightforward before. That’s what’s putting them at the forefront of making completely certain more Indians can understand financial matters.
Challenges and the Road Ahead
Despite the spectacular increase in Demat accounts, there are still issues to sort out. About 30% of these accounts in India just stay, not being used much, which clearly means we must continue to teach and make sure investors stay curious. It seems that several people become very happy to start, obtain an account–but then don’t actually use it for trade much or they just stop altogether.
To enhance, places with farms need to get more on board with demat accounts since city people are significantly ahead. Making this happen is a major issue, and to bridge this gap, the finance leaders, banks, and technology finance companies need to hone their approach. Also, must say, many people still don’t understand money and finance very well.
Conclusion
In 2024, India has seen a strikingly large increase in people getting into the stock market, shown by the very large 140 million demat accounts. The investment world in India is moving forward more quickly than before. A lot of younger people who understand technology, together with fintech companies working hard, are changing how earning money functions in India.
This just shows more and more people in the country are planning on buying and selling shares of companies.
The ride isn’t done yet, even though we’ve come a long way. To keep things moving, we really need to tackle problems such as inactive bank accounts and city-country gaps. India can make the most out of its stock market and encourage everyone to start investing if we think carefully about teaching everyone about finance and coming up with new ideas.
