In the fiscal year 2025, Indian equity markets witnessed an impressive surge in investments, highlighting a strong preference among retail and institutional investors. Retail investors poured in ₹1.25 lakh crore, marking a record high for three fiscal years. Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors contributed over ₹6 lakh crore, the most substantial inflow in a decade, according to data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Foreign Portfolio Investments Drop

Contrasting this bullish trend, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) withdrew ₹1.27 lakh crore from Indian stocks, marking the largest outflow since FY22, when withdrawals totaled ₹1.4 lakh crore. This shift reveals a mixed sentiment among different investor classes in the Indian market.

NSE Performance and Market Capitalization Growth

For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, major indices on the NSE reported returns between 4% and 5.5%. Notably, the Nifty Midcap 150 outperformed its peers with a return of 7.6%. Additionally, the market capitalization of 2,720 listed companies rose significantly to ₹410.87 lakh crore, up from ₹384.2 lakh crore the previous year.

• SME Market Growth: Within this growth, 610 companies on the NSE Emerge platform saw their market capitalization rise to ₹1.8 lakh crore, compared to ₹1.2 lakh crore in FY24.
• Market Cap-to-GDP Ratio: The ratio decreased by 4 percentage points, settling at 124%.

New Investors Joining the Market

The year also saw the addition of 20.9 million new investors, bringing the total number of unique registered investors to 113 million and total unique accounts to 219.4 million.

• Top States: Maharashtra leads with 18.4 million investors, while Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest influx of new registrations at 2.95 million.

Cash Market Activity and Turnover Growth

In the cash market, the NSE’s total turnover reached an impressive ₹281.27 lakh crore, reflecting a 39.9% increase compared to the previous year. The premium turnover from equity options increased by 2.3% to ₹155.50 lakh crore, and equity futures saw a 40.4% rise to ₹462.89 lakh crore.

NSE IX Breaks Records

The total notional turnover for NSE IX, the exchange’s multi-asset platform located at GIFT City, exceeded the $1 trillion mark in FY25, jumping from $735 billion the previous year. This platform registered 65,031 unique clients, showcasing its growing popularity.

Collateral and IPO Activity

As of March 27, 2025, the collateral at NSE Clearing rose to over ₹7 lakh crore, up from ₹6 lakh crore a year earlier. In the primary market, 242 initial public offerings (IPOs) raised a total of ₹1.7 lakh crore. The mainboard saw 79 companies gather ₹1.63 lakh crore, with Hyundai Motors leading the pack by raising ₹27,859 crore. On the SME platform, 163 companies managed to raise ₹7,111 crore.

In summary, despite the challenges faced by bears in the market, the resilience of bulls has enabled significant growth in India’s equity landscape, showcasing a robust investment climate moving forward.