The craze for stock market investments among Gujaratis has led to a significant increase in the number of investors in the state.
According to data maintained by the NSE, only five pincodes in Gujarat do not have a single registered stock market investor. These include three areas in Surendranagar district and one each in Morbi and Amreli districts. This trend highlights the rising interest in stock market investments even in remote and rural areas.
These five pincodes are among the 33 pincodes in India which do not have a single registered stock market investor.
NSE sources say that there are 19,252 pincodes in India of which some 19,219 of them have at least one registered investor. Local experts say that there are 1412 pincodes in Gujarat. “Only five pincodes in Gujarat do not have a single registered investor. This indicates there is rising interest among remote and rural areas to invest in stock market by opening demat accounts,” said a NSE source.
Gujarat has emerged as a hub for stock market investments, with the state being home to approximately 76 lakh stock market investors. In line with the national trend, the number of investors in Gujarat has witnessed a substantial increase, growing by 17.2% from 65.41 lakh in 2022 to 76.6 lakh in 2023.
Vaibhav Shah, director of a stock broking firm, said, “We have seen an increasing number of young investors coming to the market to invest and trade. Stock market penetration has increased because even in remote areas, salaried people have started investing in the stock market. Yet another important factor is technology, which has made stock investments accessible and easier. Since India has adopted technology well, young people from even remote locations are joining the bandwagon.”
NSE data indicates that stock market and mutual fund investments are deeply interconnected across India and have a higher degree of penetration.
Stock market experts believe that Gujarat has always been among the top states in equity investments. Earlier, cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara dominated in terms of investor numbers. However, there is a dramatic shift in trend over the last few years as new investors are largely seen from peri-urban and rural areas of the state.
“The Indian equity market has seen a bull run after Covid pandemic. On the other hand, traditional investment instruments returns have not been so attractive. We observed a large number of new demat account openings ahead of the LIC IPO. Bull run has attracted new investors from even remote areas to the stock market,” an investment expert said.
According to NSE data, India saw a 22.4% increase in the number of investors to 8.49 crore in 2023 as of December 25. The country witnessed an addition of almost 1.57 crore new investors during the year. In Gujarat, the number of investors was 65.41 lakh in 2022, which increased by 17.2% to 76.6 lakh.
