India’s demat accounts are more than the population of Russia, Mexico and Japan

India's demat accounts exceed 17 crore for the first time as 42.3 lakh new accounts were opened in August 2023.

India's total dematerialised- demat accounts - which hold shares and securities in electronic form - surpassed the 17 crore mark for the first time in August, as per latest numbers from depositories.

With a total of 17.11 crore demat accounts, India ranks ninth globally, surpassing countries like Russia and Japan.

In August, a total of 42.3 lakh new demat accounts were opened in August pushing the total to 17.11 crore. Data from the depositories shows that the addition was marginally lower than July's 44.44 lakh demat accounts. This was significantly higher to the addition of 31 lakh in August 2023.

India's total demat accounts are now ninth in rank compared to other countries which means that the total demat count exceeds populations of countries like Russia, Ethiopia, Mexico, and Japan and is close to that of Bangladesh's population.

The milestone has been reached just two months after the count had hit 16 crore. Since January 2023, more than 6 crore new demat accounts have been added.

In 2024, nearly 3.18 crore fresh demat accounts have been opened, surpassing the total additions of 3.10 crore in 2023.