Discount Brokers in India Face Client Exodus in August
In a tough month for India’s stock market players, major discount brokers like Groww, Zerodha, Angel One, and Upstox saw a combined drop of about 7 lakh active clients. This comes amid slowing investor interest, hitting the heart of the booming discount brokerage sector.
Groww, a top name in discount broking, started August with 1.23 crore active investors but ended with 1.20 crore—a 2.80% dip. Zerodha followed suit, losing 1.71% of its base to reach 72.63 lakh from 74.34 lakh in July. Angel One shed 1.51% of clients, bringing its numbers down to 70.46 lakh from 71.97 lakh. Upstox also struggled, with its active users falling to 23.78 lakh from 24.74 lakh.
The pain didn’t stop there. Other big players like Mirae Asset Capital, Indstocks, HDFC Securities, PhonePe Wealth, Sharekhan, Kotak Securities, and Motilal Oswal Financial reported fewer active clients too. Investor activity slowed across the board, shaking up the Indian stock market scene.
Experts point to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as the main culprit. SEBI tightened rules with higher taxes, stricter capital requirements, reduced weekly expiries for derivatives, and tougher margin rules. These changes hit futures and options (F&O) trading hard, slashing volumes and making speculative trades less attractive.
But not everyone felt the squeeze. Paytm Money bucked the trend, adding nearly 11,983 new active clients. SBICAP Securities grew by about 7,400, while ICICI Securities gained roughly 6,512. These gains show some discount brokers adapted well to the regulatory shifts.
Smaller brokerage firms proved even more resilient. Amid the overall decline in active investors, outfits like Aaritya Broking, Moneywise Finvest, Choice Equity Broking, Religare Broking, Jainam Broking, Yes Securities, IDBI Capital, and Bajaj Financial Securities all boosted their client numbers. SEBI’s focus on curbing risky bets—through better margins, fewer expiry options, and higher costs—seems to be weeding out casual speculators, but it hasn’t dimmed the appeal for steady players in the Indian brokerage market.
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