India's equity markets are growing at a rapid pace. As in February 2026, the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) crossed 25 crore trading accounts, while its NSE unique investors cross 120 million, marking one of the fastest phases of retail market access growth in the country’s history.
This milestone demonstrates the growing popularity of multi-account holdings across brokers, made possible by low-cost platforms for trading and digital onboarding, in addition to the growing interest of investors.
NSE Unique Investor Growth Journey
Financial Year | Trading Accounts (crore) |
FY2021 | 6 cr. |
FY2022 | 10 cr. |
FY2023 | 15 cr. |
FY2025 | 19.2 cr. |
FY2026 | 25 cr. |
Source: Business Today
Due to multiple account holdings, NSE trading accounts, which represent unique client codes (UCCs) across brokers grew to 25 crore by early 2026, significantly exceeding unique investors.
In just 16 months, approx. 5 crore accounts (nearly 20% of the total base) were added, with 1 crore accounts added in just two months before February 2026.
Growth has now slowed to about 25-30% on a much larger base, indicating maturity rather than a slowdown, whereas during the initial surge, YoY growth rates were above 50-60%.
NSE Unique Investors Cross 120 Million (12.7 cr.)
Financial Year | Unique Investors (cr.) | New Additions (cr.) |
FY21 | 4.0 cr. | 0.9 cr. |
FY22 | 5.9 cr. | 1.9cr. |
FY23 | 7.2 cr. | 1.3 cr. |
FY25 | 4.1 cr. | |
FY26 (Jan) | 12.7 cr. |
Source: Moneycontrol
NSE's unique registered investors, or unique PANs, have increased steadily in line with the growth of accounts. After exceeding 12 crore in September 2025, the actual number was 12.7 crore (127 million) as of January 31, 2026.
As a result of increased household participation in the capital markets, India's unique investor base has grown over the past five years, from roughly four crore in early 2021 to over 12 crore.
The gap between trading accounts and unique investors continues to widen, underlining the rise of multi-broker access among active participants.
Which States Hold the Largest Investor Base?
Financial Year | Maharashtra (cr) | UP (cr) | Gujarat (cr) | Rest of India (cr) |
FY2021 | 1.1cr. | 0.5 cr | 0.4 cr. | 4 cr. |
FY2022 | 1.8 cr. | 0.9 cr. | 0.7 cr. | 7.6 cr. |
FY2023 | 2.4 cr. | 1.3 cr. | 1 cr. | 10.3 cr. |
FY2025 | 2.3 cr. | 1.8 cr. | 13.7 cr. | |
FY2026 (Feb) | 2.8 cr. | 2.2 cr. | 15.8 cr |
SOURCE: Economic Times
Although the NSE's reach is gradually growing outside of major cities, investor participation is still concentrated in a small number of large states.
With roughly 4.2 crore trading accounts (nearly 17% of the total), Maharashtra remains the largest state. With about 2.8 crore accounts and a share of about 11.3%, Uttar Pradesh comes in second, indicating significant growth from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
West Bengal and Rajasthan each have roughly 1.4 crore accounts, contributing roughly 5.8% of the total, while Gujarat comes in second with nearly 2.2 crore accounts (8.7% share).
Although the market is still concentrated, it is evidently expanding across regions, with the top ten states contributing over 73% and the top five states together accounting for nearly 49% of all investor accounts.
With 15-20%, Maharashtra has maintained its position as the state with the largest share of NSE investors year over year, with total unique investors and trading accounts over the previous 5 years.
Due to a Tier 2 city rise, UP surpassed Gujarat as the 2nd largest state in FY25. The top three states hold approximately 35% of the total. Assam and other smaller states experienced the fastest percentage growth.
Which State Has the Highest Number of Women Participants?
State | Women Share |
Chandigarh | 32% |
Delhi | 30.5% |
Sikkim | 30.3% |
Goa | Highest small state |
Mizoram | |
Maharashtra | 28.4% |
Gujarat | 27.8% |
Tamil Nadu | |
Assam | 29.6% |
Uttar Pradesh | 18.7% |
Bihar | |
Odisha | 19.7% |
Women investors now have accounts which are nearly 1 in every 4 NSE investors, compared to 15-18% in 2021. Additionally, investors' median age has decreased to about 33 years old, down from almost 38 five years ago.
As of June 2025, women's participation in NSE unique investors had increased steadily across states, with smaller regions frequently outperforming larger states. The national average was 24.5%.
What’s Driving NSE’s Expansion In India?
The NSE experienced immense development in 2025, adding roughly 1.5 crore new unique investors to reach a total of 12.4 crore, and by year's end, trading accounts had risen to over 24 crore.
This rapid expansion over the previous year was made possible by several factors:
Fintech-led access and quick digitisation: For first-time investors in cities and towns, market access has become quicker and easier because of smooth digital registration, electronic KYC and app-based investing.
The rise of affordable trading platforms: Entry barriers have been reduced by lower broking fees and user-friendly platforms, which has encouraged more young and economical investors to participate.
Another strong reason for expansion is high market returns over 5 years. (As per sources, till 13th Feb, the Nifty 50 gave 11.3% annually, while Nifty 500 gave 13.7% annually.)
Growth in indirect participation, with nearly 6 crore new SIP accounts added between April 2025 and January 2026. Average monthly SIP inflows rose to Rs. 28,766 crore from Rs. 23,743 crore (previous year).
More than 200 companies raised Rs. 1.77 lakh crore on NSE platforms as IPO activity skyrocketed.
Infrastructure boost: NSE created Asia's largest in-house private cloud and increased co-location capacity to 1,400+ racks for HFT/algo trading, easily managing a 10x increase in volume.
Individual investors owned 18.6% of the market capitalisation of NSE-listed companies as of December 2025, up from 14.6% five years prior, both directly and through mutual funds. This also generates a direct interest in investing in NSE Unlisted Shares.
