Are Indians investing more, or are asset-rich Indians getting richer? Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath sparks debate online
India has seen a sharp rise in financial assets and retail participation in the markets since 2020, but does this mean more Indians are investing, or are those who already have substantial wealth accumulating more assets?
Zerodha founder and CEO Nithin Kamath has raised this question through a series of charts tracking the growth of India’s financial savings, equity holdings and market activity between 2015 and 2026.
In a post on X, Kamath mentioned, “Are Indians investing more, or are the asset-rich Indians getting richer?” The accompanying charts highlight how financial assets have grown across mutual funds, bank deposits, retail equity holdings, high-net-worth individual (HNI) holdings, domestic institutional investors (DIIs), and the National Pension System (NPS).
India’s financial assets have grown sharply
The data shows a broad increase in financial asset pools, with growth accelerating across several categories after 2020. Mutual fund assets under management (AUM) have risen to ₹82.6 lakh crore, while bank term deposits have reached ₹164.2 lakh crore.
Both categories show a sustained upward trend over the period, although bank deposits remain substantially larger in absolute terms.
Retail equity holdings have climbed to ₹34.6 lakh crore, with a sharper increase after 2020. HNI equity holdings have reached ₹9.9 lakh crore, also recording a marked rise in recent years. The increase raises a related question: how much of the expansion in equity wealth reflects broader participation and how much reflects the accumulation of assets by wealthier investors?
Domestic institutional investor (DII) equity holdings have climbed to ₹89.7 lakh crore, while total NPS assets under management (AUM) have reached ₹18.2 lakh crore. These trends indicate the growing scale of domestic investment pools and retirement savings.
The last two charts track monthly gross delivery values and net inflows into equity mutual funds. Gross delivery, which excludes intraday trades, measures the monthly value of shares settled into demat accounts on the NSE and BSE. It has risen to ₹11.9 lakh crore currently.
Net inflows into equity mutual funds, meanwhile, stood at ₹38,294 crore a month. The chart shows fluctuations, including a dip into negative territory around 2020–2021, followed by a recovery. Together, these trends show that the value of shares being settled and the money flowing into equity mutual funds have increased significantly.
The key question, therefore, is whether this growth reflects wider participation in financial markets or a rising concentration of wealth among those who already own assets.
