India gone through equity revolution, 12 crore investors participate: Ashish Chauhan at CNBC TV-18 Global Leadership Summit

India’s equity landscape has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past decade, with the number of unique investors on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) soaring from 1.6 crore to 12 crore since 2014, NSE CEO Ashish Chauhan said, speaking at CNBC-TV18’s Global Leadership Summit 2025.

“When Mr. Modi took over on that day, we had 1.6 crore unique investors. Today, after 11 years, we have 12 crore unique investors,” Chauhan said, calling it “a miracle” in India’s financial journey. Nearly half of these investors joined in the past five years, driven by the shift to digital KYC during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During COVID, SEBI allowed the KYC to be done digitally. That allowed many of my brokers to reach out to the nooks and corners,” he said, adding that NSE now has investors from every part of India, in “every ZIP code except 28,” most of which are airports.

Chauhan highlighted the democratization of investing, noting that “even people sitting in Ladakh or the Andaman Islands are putting money in small companies.” This deep trust, he said, represents a “virtuous cycle” in India’s evolving capital markets.