The Indian stock markets were on a roll this year and the benchmark NSE Nifty 50 touched the milestones of 20,000 on September 11 and the 21,000-mark on December 8. This rapid boom resulted in a significant rise in the number of stock market investors and the number has crossed the 8-crore milestone. According to data by the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the number of stock market investors in India grew by 22.4 per cent this year.
Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest growth. Other than the stock market boom, two factors that led to the surge were the rise in awareness and the ease of online trading.
Despite starting from a relatively lower base, Bihar witnessed an extraordinary 36.6 per cent rise in the number of registered investors, showcasing a rising interest in financial markets within the state. Bihar was closely followed by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh which recorded growth rates of 33.8 per cent and 28.9 per cent respectively.
After the financial leader Maharashtra, these states are steadily positioning themselves as key players in the Indian investment landscape. Maharashtra, with an increase of 16.9 per cent, has the largest investor pool in India, with over 1.48 crore registered investors as of December 25.
Uttar Pradesh overtook Gujarat and now stands 2nd in the list of states with the most investors. On December 25, UP had 89.5 lakh active investors, while Gujarat had 76.5 lakh.
In total, India had over 8.49 crore registered investors as of December 25, up 22.4% from last year. The growth has been driven by greater penetration of online trading platforms outside of the top metros. A burst of financial and business information on social media sites like YouTube has also created awareness about stock market investing.
The country's market capitalisation crossed $4 trillion in 2023 and is now ranked fourth in the world, behind the US, China, and Japan.
