The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has surpassed the 12-crore unique registered investor mark in September, the exchange revealed on Thursday. As of September 23, 2025, the NSE had a total of 23.5 crore investor accounts.

“This steady growth is supported by several key drivers: a streamlined Know Your Customer (KYC) process, enhanced financial literacy through stakeholder-led investor awareness programs, and sustained positive market sentiment. The rise in participation across Exchange Traded instruments—including Equities, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), Government Bonds, and Corporate Bonds—underscores these factors,” said Sriram Krishnan, Chief Business Development Officer, NSE.

The exchange stated in a press release that the investor base for the stock exchange has seen exponential growth over the years, with 1 crore mark touched in 14 years, another 25 years to reach 4 crore, and to now adding 1 crore investors in just 6–7 months.

This growth it attributes to digitisation, fintech access, supportive policies from the government, and an expanding middle class.

The composition of these unique investors is getting younger by the day, the data reveals. One in four investors is a woman, the median age is 33 years (down from 38 five years ago), and nearly 40% of these investors are under the age of 30 years.

These investors come from over 99.85% of the country’s pin codes, with Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat each having over 1 crore investors.

The exchange noted that over the last fiscal year, the market performance has remained resilient despite global headwinds, with the Nifty 50 returning 7.0% and the Nifty 500 delivering 9.3%. Meanwhile, over the past five years, annualised returns, according to the NSE, stood at 17.7% (Nifty 50) and 20.5% (Nifty 500), higher than most emerging and developed markets.

The total market capitalisation for NSE-listed companies has surpassed ₹460 lakh crore, with retail investors, directly and via mutual funds, holding 18.5% of the market.

In a bid to strengthen this expanding investor base, NSE has intensified efforts in financial literacy and investor protection, quadrupling Investor Awareness Programs over five years and growing its Investor Protection Fund by 21% year-on-year to ₹2,644 crore.

Indirect participation has grown as well, with nearly 2.9 crore new SIP accounts opened between April and August 2025, and average monthly inflows rising to ₹27,464 crore, the data reveals.