Street to see a tide of retail investors in next one year

India’s retail investment landscape may be on the cusp of change, with a surge of first-timers ready to enter the equity markets.

- Apoorva Ajith & Neha Joshi

A fresh class of “intenders,” as identified by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in a new study, is preparing to take the leap into equities in the next one year.

The number of intenders could be as high as 39.7 million, according to calculations by Mint based on data from the survey. The study found that 22% of non-investors who are aware of securities market products have expressed interest in investing in the future. This, it said, represents significant opportunities to expand the country’s investor base.

The Investor Survey 2025 was carried out by Kantar in association with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Association of Mutual Funds in India, National Stock Exchange of India, BSE, National Securities Depository Ltd and Central Depository Services Ltd and released in September. It covered 90,000 households nationally across 400 cities and 1,000 villages. The sample size was extrapolated to a household population of 337.2 million.