Record Number Of New Demat Accounts Created Amid Lockdown As Investors Look To Invest In Stock

Amid the lockdown and a slump in the stock market, the number of new domestic retail investors have witnessed a record surge in the months of March and April with people increasingly investing their savings into equity markets, reports Economic Times.

About 12 lakh new investors opened demat accounts with the Central Depository Services (CSDL) in March and April alone. Of these, 6.18 lakh accounts were opened in March, and 6 lakh in April. This marks a significant fillip when compared to 4.2 million new demat accounts opened in the prior 11 months between April 2019 and February 2020.

Online stock brokerage Zerodha's chief executive Nithin Kamath shared that his firm alone has added a record 3 lakh new customers in the last two months. he also shared that 65 per cent of the figure are all new and first-time investors.

This development comes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with the stock markets witnessing a sharp fall in the prices of several quality stocks since mid-February. This is believed to have attracted domestic savers to the stock market.