Demat Account Growth Slows as SIP Inflows Hit Record High
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- Demat account growth fell below 20% last year for the first time, down from five consecutive years of 30%+ growth, per NSDL and CDSL data cited by ClearTax CEO Archit Gupta.
- ClearTax CEO Archit Gupta framed the slowdown as the market 'filtering out its speculators and retaining the serious, long-term investors,' rejecting the read that retail has lost interest.
- Mutual fund assets more than doubled in five years, rising from ₹33.67 lakh crore to ₹82.22 lakh crore, while monthly SIP inflows hit a record ₹32,086 crore in March 2026 per the RBI's Financial Stability Report.
- June SIP contributions rose to ₹31,781 crore — up 3% month-on-month and 17% year-on-year from ₹27,269 crore — with 9.78 crore accounts actively contributing.
- ITR-2 and ITR-3 filings grew from roughly one-sixth of all returns to nearly half in just three years, per ClearTax internal data, indicating dormant demat accounts are translating into real capital gains being taxed.
- Salaried taxpayers with long-term capital gains up to ₹1.25 lakh and total income up to ₹50 lakh can now file ITR-1, a rule change Gupta says is reshaping how retail gains enter the tax system.
Why it matters: If Gupta's read is right, Indian retail capital is maturing into a more durable force: ₹31,781 crore in monthly SIP flows and ₹82.22 lakh crore in mutual fund assets show systematic money replacing speculative churn. The consequence for market regulators and AMCs is a less volatile but stickier retail base — and the ITR-2 surge from one-sixth to half of all filings is the taxman's confirmation that the shift is real, not just narrative.
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