Equity Cash turnover rises to 16-month high at Rs 23.9 lakh crore in January

The report noted that trading activity was heavily concentrated in a small group of stocks and ETFs. The combined turnover of the top 10 traded securities in the cash market rose to Rs 4.39 lakh crore in January, up 91.6% MoM from Rs 2.29 lakh crore in December 2025.

• Equity cash turnover reached Rs 23.9 lakh crore in Jan 2026
• Mainboard equities drove 67% of the turnover increase
• Top 10 traded securities made up 18.4% of market turnover

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Equity cash turnover in NSE rose to a 16-month high of Rs 23.9 lakh crore in January 2026, according to the February edition of Market Pulse, despite fewer trading days during the month. According to the report, this increase comes on the back of increase in investment in mainboard equities, i.e. a mix of institutional participation, earnings-driven trades, ETF activity and capital rotating toward liquid benchmark stocks on the back of market volatility.

Cash turnover is the total value of shares traded in the cash (spot) market and is tracked as a measure of market liquidity and participation. The report noted the January increase reflects stronger trading activity even with a shorter trading calendar.

Average daily turnover (ADT) in the cash segment rose to Rs 1.2 lakh crore, up 27% month-on-month (MoM) and 24% year-on-year (YoY). Mainboard equities led the rise, contributing 67% of incremental ADT and accounting for 89% of total cash market turnover. Mainboard turnover grew 19% MoM.

Exchange-traded funds, according to the report recorded a 174% MoM jump in turnover, extending cumulative growth since January 2025 to 699%. Sovereign Gold Bonds rose 95% MoM, which the report linked to renewed investor interest in gold amid global uncertainty and domestic price volatility, along with secondary market repositioning.

On the increase in volumes, Vikas Gupta of Omniscience Capital noted that there was an increase of about Rs 1 lakh crores from the FII activity and around Rs 30-40,000 crores by DII/MF activity. "The rest is likely the result of retail trading activity and prop trading activity. Possibly certain actions by SEBI to curb F&O trading might have resulted in increase in development of cash market strategies by prop traders," he said.

On the other hand, NSE Emerge equities declined 19% MoM, while InvITs and REITs fell 50% and 49%, respectively.

The report also noted that the average trade size in the cash market rose to Rs 33,559, which was a 56-month high and indicating that higher-value trades accounted for much of the increase rather than a broad rise in smaller-ticket participation.

Trading activity concentrated

The report noted that trading activity was heavily concentrated in a small group of stocks and ETFs. The combined turnover of the top 10 traded securities in the cash market rose to Rs 4.39 lakh crore in January, up 91.6% MoM from Rs 2.29 lakh crore in December 2025.

Their share in total market turnover increased to 18.4% from 11.0%, a rise of 7.35 percentage points. Overall market turnover rose 15% MoM to Rs 23.91 lakh crore, with 67% of the incremental increase contributed by the top 10 securities, indicating that much of the month’s trading momentum was concentrated in a select set of high-liquidity counters.

Among individual stocks, ITC recorded the strongest growth, with turnover surging 327% MoM. Nippon India ETF Gold BeES rose 236.8%, while Nippon India Silver ETF gained 178.9%, with precious-metal ETFs seeing higher participation amid volatility in gold and silver prices during the month.

Notably, Nippon India Silver ETF and Nippon India ETF Gold BeES contributed 25% and 10%, respectively, to the increase in turnover of the top 10 group in January.

Eternal more than doubled its turnover, rising 106% MoM. Banking majors HDFC Bank (+71.8%) and ICICI Bank (+65.4%) also saw strong participation.

Metal and resource stocks such as Hindustan Zinc (+77.3%), Vedanta (+45.9%), and Hindustan Copper (+41.5%) posted solid trading activity, which the report attributed to strong Q3FY26 earnings performance.

Performance in derivatives 

According to the report, during the month, equity futures ADT rose 29% MoM to Rs 1.5 lakh crore, a 15-month high, with single stock futures accounting for 84% of activity. Index futures ADT increased 22% MoM to Rs 29,120 crore. Within index futures, NIFTY 50 futures held a 72% share, while Bank Nifty futures accounted for 22% but declined sharply YoY following the rationalisation of weekly expiry contracts. Despite higher turnover, average trade sizes in futures declined sequentially, suggesting that higher trade counts drove the increase.

In equity options, ADT climbed 35% MoM, with NIFTY 50 options capturing 91% of index options ADT, reflecting continued consolidation of liquidity in the benchmark contract.

Currency futures ADT rose 7% MoM but remained 36% lower YoY, in line with the impact of the May 2024 directive by the Reserve Bank of India requiring exchange-traded currency positions to be backed by underlying exposure.

In commodities, tADT in futures increased 17% MoM to Rs 56.7 crore, while options premium turnover rose 46% MoM to Rs 42.1 crore. On a YoY basis, commodity futures turnover expanded nearly 27 times, according to the report.