Investor accounts News

The sharp rise in folio numbers comes at a time when the benchmark indices -- Sensex and Nifty -- have been hovering at historical highs.

Equity mutual funds witnessed an addition of nearly 1.6 lakh investor accounts or folios in the first month of the current fiscal, primarily on account of strong participation from retail investors.  

Total number of investor accounts at two depositories -- NSDL and CDSL -- stood at 2.5 crore at the end of February, translating to an addition of 18.64 lakh in past one year.  

Around 1.65 lakh investor accounts were added during the month of October, taking the cumulative number of such accounts on the nation's two depositories to 2.43 crore, shows latest data.  

According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) data on investor accounts with 44 fund houses, the number of equity folios jumped to 34,121,188 last month from 31,691,619 at March-end, a gain of 24.3 lakh.

With growing capital markets and business friendly climate, nearly 1.4 lakh investor accounts were opened on an average every month in the last one year.

Equity mutual funds are in an overdrive as they witnessed addition of nearly six lakh investor accounts or folios in the first two months of the fiscal, mainly on account of strong retail participation.

Mutual fund industry is set to achieve an investor base of 10 crore accounts in the next five years, while their asset base can touch Rs 20 crore in just about three years, helped by positive market sentiments and growing interest among retail investors.

Driven by addition in equity fund folios, mutual fund houses have registered a surge of more than seven lakh investor accounts in the first nine months of the current fiscal.

Driven by addition in equity fund folios, mutual fund houses have registered a rise of over 3.5 lakh investor accounts in the first eight months of the ongoing 2014-15 fiscal.

The cumulative number of investor accounts at the country's two depositories NSDL and CDSL stood at 2.22 crore as of July-end - an addition of more than 9 lakh investor accounts year-on-year.