Household wealth in Indian equities rise by over Rs 40 lakh cr in five years, notes Economic Survey 2025

Higher investor participation has engendered a self-reinforcing cycle of strong market returns, bringing in even more investors, said the Economic Survey Report 2025.

Household wealth in Indian equities has increased by over Rs 40 lakh crore in the last five years, between 2020 and 2024, as of September 2024, according to the Economic Survey 2025.

The report released on January 31 was quoting NSE's estimates.

The report said that this was thanks to the increasing retail participation and the growth in the securities market.

It said, "Deepening individual participation, coupled with robust gains generated by Indian equities, outpacing other asset classes, has created significant household wealth over the last few years."

Also read: Economic Survey 2025: Retail investors made Indian markets less sensitive to US market, but impact from correction in latter may be "non-trivial"

According to the report, while growth in capital markets has contributed significantly to this wealth creation, what has made it sustainable is the wider participation of investors and the actions taken by the market regulator.

The report said, "Capital markets are central to India’s growth story, catalysing capital formation for the real economy, enhancing the financialisation of domestic savings, and enabling wealth creation. As of December 2024, the Indian stock market has achieved new highs, with intermittent corrections, in the midst of geopolitical uncertainties, currency depreciation and domestic market volatility challenges."

It added, "Investor participation has been a contributor, with number of investors growing from 4.9 crore in FY20 to 13.2 crore as of 31 December 2024. This growth, combined with active listing activity and recent measures by the regulator, viz. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to temper excesses, is expected to foster sustainable market expansion"

The investor participation has also led to an outward spiral of growth that is generating its own momentum. The report said, "Higher investor participation has engendered a self-reinforcing cycle of strong market returns, bringing in even more investors. This, in turn, will eventually transform the securities market into a more diverse, inclusive, and robust platform for wealth creation."

The incremental addition to demat accounts has been continuously increasing, with the number of demat accounts rising sharply by 33 per cent to 18.5 crore at the end of December 2024 on a YoY basis. In the equity cash segment, individual investor share turnover41 was 35.6 per cent from April to December 2024. There are 11.5 crore unique investors with demat accounts and 5.6 crore unique investors in mutual funds as of the end of December 2024.