Retail investors reversed their six-year investment trend in FY26, turning net sellers with outflows of ₹5,803 crore compared to net inflows of ₹1.25 trillion in the previous financial year, according to the latest Market Pulse fiscal report by NSE. This dramatic shift occurred amid heightened global uncertainty and choppy equity markets, with the reversal driven by elevated market valuations that prompted profit booking and geopolitical uncertainty that dampened risk appetite.
Despite the secondary market pullback, retail appetite for primary issuances remained robust with investments rising to ₹42,608 crore in FY26, up from ₹34,336 crore in FY25. Overall fund mobilisation through equity and debt instruments reached ₹20.3 lakh crore in FY26, representing a 9% year-on-year increase. IPO activity remained particularly strong with 219 companies raising ₹1.8 lakh crore, marking the highest annual fund mobilisation on record, as reported by NSE.
The NSE's investor base expanded to 12.9 crore in FY26, though the pace of new additions slowed with new investor additions totalling 1.6 crore and average monthly additions moderating to 13.5 lakh per month in FY26 versus 17.5 lakh last year. The exchange noted that the share of the top 10 states in total registrations has declined, indicating wider participation across the country, as reported by NSE.
The report highlighted continued concentration in trading activity, with the top 0.2% of investors contributing 78% of average monthly turnover in FY26, while nearly 70% of investors accounted for a negligible share of activity. This concentration pattern reflects the dominance of high-value traders in equity cash market turnover, according to NSE's analysis.
