Mumbai, Dec 26 (IANS): A record 42,76,207 investors joined the Indian stock market in November, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) data showed on Thursday.

In the July-September period this year, a total of 1,60,06,447 (over 1.6 crore) people joined the stock market, as India’s equity markets soared to record highs.

Benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex hit all-time highs of 26,277.35 and 85,978.25, respectively, this year.

The stock exchange also informed that till December 23 this year, the total number of registered investors stood at 21,02,25,329 (over 21.02 crore).

Among states, Maharashtra currently leads with the highest number of accounts at over 3.7 crore, followed by Uttar Pradesh (2.28 crore), Gujarat (1.87 crore) and Rajasthan and West Bengal at over 1.2 crore each, as per the NSE data.

In October, the total number of client accounts at the exchange surpassed 20 crore for the first time, from 16.9 crore eight months ago. The unique registered investor base (with a unique PAN number) stood at 10.5 crore in October.

According to the latest SBI Research report, the country is witnessing at least 30 million new demat accounts being opened every year since 2021, and nearly every one in four is now a women investor, indicating an increasing prevalence of using the capital market as a channel of financialisation of savings.

The report said that owing to this, the total demat accounts in the country crossed 150 million (of which 92 million are unique investors on NSE) in FY24 as compared to a paltry 22 million in FY14.

This year, the number of new demat accounts may cross the 40 million mark, according to Dr Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Adviser, SBI.

The report further mentioned that the increasing share of mutual funds in financial savings has made them the most preferred instrument for the financialisation of savings. The new SIP registered increased fourfold since FY18 to 4.8 crore, leading to a total SIP contribution of around Rs 2 lakh crore.