Ahmedabad: With the stock market showing high volatility, Gujarat in May saw a steep fall in new equity investor registrations. Surat registered the biggest decrease — 64% — in April and May compared to the monthly average of the 2025 financial year, while Ahmedabad saw a 62% decrease, a National Stock Exchange (NSE) report shows.

Ahmedabad, with 10,000, and Surat (9,400) still ranked among the top 10 districts despite the sharp fall as the state overall registered 56,200 new additions in May to cross the 1 crore unique investors mark. Gunjan Choksi, director of a stock broking firm, said, "Since Jan, there has been a drop in new investors because markets witnessed a bear phase. However, June saw revival in sentiments, we will soon see new investors joining the market in significant numbers."

According to the NSE report, within the top 10 districts, Surat saw the steepest drop with a 64% decline in monthly new investor registrations (from ~24,000 in FY25 to ~8,800 in FY26TD), followed closely by 62% in Ahmedabad (from ~24,000 in FY25 to ~9,200 in FY26TD). These two districts significantly influenced the decline in Gujarat's new investor registration momentum. In Maharashtra, Mumbai and Pune recorded 43% and 45% declines respectively in their average monthly run-rates of new investor registrations in FY26TD (as of May 2025) compared to FY25.

"In May 2025, investor registrations saw a revival, crossing the 11-lakh mark and breaking a four-month streak of consecutive declines. Uttar Pradesh accounted for the highest share of new additions in May 2025 at 14%, followed by Maharashtra (12%), Tamil Nadu and West Bengal (7% each), and Bihar (6%). Together, these five states contributed 46% of the month's total new registrations. However, the new registration during the month was notably lower than the 17.6 lakh additions recorded in May 2024.

During the first two months of FY26, the average monthly investor registrations stood at 10.6 lakh investors — 39% lower than the FY25 monthly average of 17.4 lakh," the report said.It added that all states experienced a decline in their monthly run-rate when comparing the average for FY26TD (as of May 2025) against the full-year average of FY25. "Gujarat recorded the sharpest fall at 63% (from an average of ~1.4 lakh in FY25 to ~52,600 in FY26TD), followed by Rajasthan at 50%. Even the top two states by total investor base saw a notable drop — Maharashtra's monthly average new registrations fell 44% (1.2 lakh in FY26TD vs 2.2 lakh in FY25), while Uttar Pradesh recorded a decline of 39% (1.5 lakh in FY26TD vs 2.5 lakh in FY25)," the report said.