Mumbai: New demat account additions rose to a seven-month high in August, marking the third consecutive month of growth after a prolonged period of moderation between January 2025 and May 2026, as robust IPO activity drew more investors to the markets.
NSDL and CDSL together added nearly 3.27 million demat accounts in August, the highest monthly addition since January 2026. The total number of demat accounts stood at 237.7 million at the end of the month.
The figure does not represent the number of unique investors, as individuals can hold multiple demat accounts. The number of unique investors is estimated at around 135 million.
"Buoyancy in IPO markets is one of the reasons for the sharp jump in new demat accounts. Strong small- and midcaps have also raised investor return expectations from IPO debuts," said Sriram Velayudhan, senior VP, IIFL Capital Services.
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The pickup came amid weakness in the benchmark indices, with the Sensex falling 1.5% and the Nifty declining 1.2% in August. However, segments of the market that tend to see stronger retail participation remained buoyant. The BSE MidCap 150 gained 1.6%, the BSE SmallCap 250 rose 2.4% and the BSE Microcap 250 jumped 6.2% during the month.
Robust primary market activity was a key factor driving new account additions, experts said. August was the busiest month for IPO and offer-for-sale (OFS) activity in 2026, with 23 IPOs raising ₹22,448 crore and two OFS transactions raising ₹31,660 crore.
With Jio and NSE expected to launch their IPOs in the coming months, market participants expect the pace of demat additions to pick up further.
