Retail investors have taken out Rs 8,461 crore from equities in 2025 (as of December 19), the highest outflows since 2019, NSE data show. Outflows from FPIs were the highest-ever at Rs 1.58 lakh crore. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs), on the other hand, infused a record Rs 7.61 lakh crore.
The number of total unique registered investors stood at 124 million as of December 19 this year, 13.9% higher than last year.
What did NSE’s December Market Pulse report say?
The NSE’s December Market Pulse report said since the start of 2025, except for the May-July and Sept-Oct periods, new registrations trended downwards. Having crossed the 90-million mark in February 2024, the investor base expanded to 100 million by August 2024 and to 110 million by January 2025 – each incremental 10 million being added within five-six months.
However, the momentum considerably slowed in 2025 with the investor base reaching 120 million in a span of 9 months, as global headwinds affected the market sentiment and investor confidence during the year, the report said. Between January and November 2025, 1.28 million new investors were added each month on an average, adding an incremental 14 million investors, a significant drop compared to the average monthly addition of 1.93 million during the same period last year (total incremental addition of 21 million).
State-wise distribution of investors
State wise, Maharashtra, UP, and Gujarat continued to be on top in terms of the investor base at 19.69 million, 14.39 million and 10.74 million, respectively. Individual investors who traded at least once during the year fell 9.3% in the cash market. In the derivatives market, it declined by 26.3%. As of December 19, the number was 34.57 million in the cash market and 8.22 million in derivatives.
The accretion to household wealth in the equity markets remained at Rs 7 lakh crore in the first half of FY26, same as FY25, the report showed. Net wealth accretion since April 2020 stood at Rs 53 lakh crore.
The market capitalisation of NSE-listed companies rose 6.8% from 2024 to Rs 469 lakh crore. The market cap-to-GDP ratio fell 15 basis points. The Nifty 50 rose 9.8% during this period, Nifty Midcap 150 gained 4.8%, and the Nifty SmallCap 250 fell 7.6%.
According to a Kotak Institutional Equities report, the Indian market delivered mediocre returns in CY2025 on both absolute and relative basis despite large government support (income tax and GST rate cuts), strong domestic inflows and a sharp decline in the rupee. It noted that the market has been constrained by high valuations, earnings downgrades, weak growth in earnings, low interest among FPIs given better relative opportunities elsewhere and no exposure to the AI theme, a key driver of several markets in 2HCY25.
The total number of IPOs fell to 213 from 268 in 2024, while the amount raised through these issues rose to Rs 1.77 lakh crore from Rs 1.67 lakh crore. The number of mainboard IPOs stood at 101, compared to 90 last year. The number of SME IPOs fell from 178 to 112.