Strong fundamentals and rising secondary markets coupled with block buster IPOs like Reliance Power (RePL) have brought in a flood of demat accounts. Indian markets have crossed over 1.2 crore demat accounts, with the 2007 October-December quarter alone registering more than 12,00,000 new demat accounts.

NSDL (National Securities Depository Ltd) added 5,17,000 new demat accounts in the fourth quarter as compared to 1,86,000 accounts in the third quarter of 2007 – a jump of over 170%.

Meanwhile, for CDSL (Central Depository Securities Ltd) the figure for the fourth quarter was 7,14,000 accounts, compared to 3,57,000 demat accounts in July-September 2007. CDSL registered a growth of around 100%. NSDL has over 85 lakh demat accounts and CDSL has over 36.50 lakh demat accounts. “The surge in number of demat accounts being opened can be partly attributed to the ADAG group Reliance Power IPO,” said Ajay Menon, director-operations, Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd (MOSL).

MOSL, the recently listed company has seen a jump of over 60% in number of demat accounts in the fourth quarter (Oct-Dec) 2007. Company opened 36,210 demat accounts in fourth quarter compared to 21,987 accounts in the third quarter2007. According to Menon, the growth in number of accounts being opened will remain firm in the coming quarter as the IPOs of many reputed firms are likely to debut from 2008 onwards.

We are expecting a growth of 40% annually in 2008, said Menon.

Angel Broking Ltd, has a similar story with the company registering a jump of 90% in the new demat accounts opened in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter. Company opened 46,848 new demat accounts in the fourth quarter compared to 24,763 accounts in the third quarter.

Angel opened 17,963 new demat accounts in December 2007 itself. “We have witnessed the fastest ever growth in the fourth quarter,” said V-P corporate communication India Infoline Ltd, Harshad Apte. He, however, refused to reveal the figures. Primary markets are driving the growth in number of demat accounts, said Apte.

Markets are also doing very well and brokers are penetrating the market by expanding their operations. All these factors could be attributed to the growth, said Apte.

Source : Sify