February selloff also saw a 31% fall in new investor additions, UP still the fastest growing: NSE data

NSE

Equity markets saw an extended selloff in February, partly due to tariff-related jitters, earnings slowdown and valuation concerns. This led to a 31.2% fall in new investor registrations for the month, showed an NSE report, with all states witnessing a drop. However, the populous state of Uttar Pradesh accounted for the most number of additions.

Overall, the new registrations dropped by 31.2 percent in February, said NSE's latest report, with West India seeing sharpest drop of over 41 percent versus January. Northern India still holds the top spot in terms of new investor registrations, accounting for 40.5% of the total registrations in February. East India and South India, meanwhile, saw their new registrations drop by 24.7 percent and 26.8 percent respectively.

Uttar Pradesh continued to record the highest number of new investor registrations in February on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), even though the state saw a nearly 27 percent fall in new investor addition in February at 1.6 lakh versus 2.2 lakh new registrations in January. Uttar Pradesh was followed by Maharashtra with 1.3 lakh new investors registering on NSE in February. The other key states include West Bengal (79,300 new investors), Tamil Nadu (78,300 new investors), Bihar (67,200 new investors), Gujarat (65,100 new investors), Karnataka (63,400 new investors), Rajasthan (57,400 new investors), Madhya Pradesh (53,300 new investors), Andhra Pradesh (49,100 new investors), Telangana (40,900 new investors), and Delhi (40,000 new investors).

Maharashtra Dominates the Total Investor Base

Maharashtra continues to hold the lion's share in terms of total registered investors. As of February, the state accounted for 16.3 percent of the total investor base on NSE, followed by Uttar Pradesh (11.3 percent), Gujarat (8.8 percent), West Bengal (5.8 percent), Rajasthan (5.7 percent), Karnataka (5.5 percent) and other states.

"Region-wise, North India remained on top with a registered investor base of 4.1 crore, followed by West India at 3.4 crore, South India at 2.3 crore, and East India at 1.3 crore," the NSE report said. In terms of share, UP accounted for 14.5 percent of the overall new registrations seen during February.

More Young Investors Entering Markets

Younger investors, under the age of 30 years, represented 39.6 percent of the total investor base on NSE in February. This is a sharp increase from the 22.6 percent share held in March 2019. The mean age has reduced from 41.3 years in March 2019 to 35.8 years in February 2025, while the median age declined from 38 to 32 years over the same period.

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Strongest Female Participation

Women's share in individual investor registrations has seen a strong rise at 24.3 percent in February.

"Among the top 10 states by investor base, Maharashtra (28.2 percent), Gujarat (27.8 percent), Tamil Nadu (27.8 percent), and Karnataka (27.3 percent) exhibit higher female representation than the pan-India average of 24.3% in FY25TD. In contrast, Rajasthan (20.2 percent), Madhya Pradesh (21.7 percent), and Uttar Pradesh (18.5 percent) show lower female investor participation. Notably, Lakshadweep had the lowest female representation of 15.2 percent within its registered investor base, while Goa had the highest (32.4 percent) in FY25 so far," the report said.