New demat account additions decline 18% in April; Zerodha, Upstox, Groww impacted

• The number of new accounts added declined 18% on a monthly basis to 16 lakh in April as against 19 lakh in March.
• The total number of demat accounts stood at 11.6 crore in April, 2023.
• Total number of active user clients at NSE stood at 3.12 crore in April 2023.

Additions of new demat accounts continued to slow in April to 16 lakh from 19 lakh in March, amid uncertain market conditions. As many as 21 lakh accounts were added in February.

The total number of demat accounts stood at 11.6 crore in April, 2023. The incremental number of new accounts added declined 18% on a monthly basis to 16 lakh in April as against 19 lakh in March, according to Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

The report shows that the figure is significantly lower than the average new accounts added per month in FY23, at 21 lakh.

Also, the total number of active user clients at NSE declined sequentially for the tenth consecutive month by 16.3% on a yearly basis, and by 4.6% on monthly basis to 3.12 crore in April 2023.

Demat account additions had picked up during the pandemic, but as markets turned erratic and FII enthusiasm waned, it seems to be having an impact on the sentiment of retail investors too.

Performance of discount brokers in April

Broking firm	Month on month	Client count
Zerodha	-1.6%	63 lakh
Angel One	-0.3%	43 lakh
Upstox	-23.1%	22 lakh
Groww	-0.5%	53 lakh
ICICI Securities	-4%	22 lakh
IIFL Securities	-3.5%	5 lakh

Source: Motilal Oswal Financial Services

Currently, the top five discount brokers including Zerodha, Upstox, Angel One, Groww and 5Paisa Capital account for over 60% of the market share of active clients, which was earlier being held by traditional brokerage houses.

The waning investor interest amid market volatility is also reflected in the declining client additions of these discounted brokers.

Overall market share of active clients

Brokerage house	April 23	Year on Year growth
Zerodha Broking	20.2%	300 bps
Upstox	7.1%	-840 bps
Angel One	13.7%	350 bps
Groww	17.2%	630 bps
Motilal Oswal	2.5%	-10 bps
ICICI Securities	7.2%	-110 bps
HDFC Securities	3.4%	30 bps
Kotak Securities	2.9%	-50 bps
Sharekhan	2.1%	20 bps
IIFL Securities	1.5%	-190 bps

Source: Motilal Oswal Investment Services


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