NSE Investor Accounts Cross 22 Crore Mark, Indicating Fast Retail Expansion in Indian Markets
The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) achieved yet another milestone in the sense that it crossed 22 crore (220 million) investor accounts, also referred to as Unique Client Codes (UCCs), as of April 2025. This was a sudden jump over the earlier level of 20 crore set as recently as October 2024. By the number of registered unique investors, the account stood at 11.3 crore as of March 31, 2025, but there was a jump from the earlier recorded number on January 20, 2025.
It should be noted that a single investor can have accounts in more than one broker, thereby resulting in multiple UCCs. Of the states, Maharashtra has the highest number of 3.8 crore investor accounts, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 2.4 crore accounts. Gujarat has 1.9 crore, and Rajasthan and West Bengal have around 1.3 crore accounts each. These five states together command nearly 49% of the total investor base. Actually, the first ten states represent approximately 75% of the total client codes.
Indian capital markets have returned impressive results over the last five years. The Nifty 50 Index has returned 22% per annum, and the wider Nifty 500 Index has returned 25% per annum. These returns represent substantial wealth creation for investors over the last five years. At the same time, the Investor Protection Fund (IPF) of the NSE has also increased by over 23% year-on-year to Rs. 2,459 crore as of March 31, 2025.
The sudden spurt in participation by investors can be attributed to a combination of factors, such as swift digitalisation, the spread of mobile trading platforms to cities, greater access to the small-town capital market, and simpler financial literacy. Smooth KYC processes and awareness campaigns have also contributed their share to the boost. More and more investors are accessing a large array of products like equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), real estate investment trusts (REITs), infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), and bonds.
A larger number of investor accounts speak about an improving financial ecosystem within India, as technology is emerging to play an instrumental role in spreading the footprint of investments wider and making investments easier to reach.
NSE continues to be the market leader in markets across the world. It has been India’s largest stock exchange by turnover since 1995, according to SEBI data. It is also the world’s largest derivatives exchange in terms of contract volume of trading and the second-largest in the world by equities trading volume in the world for the year 2024, according to the data supplied by the Futures Industry Association (FIA) and World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), respectively.
