Number of applications for new accounts dip by 80% in Rajkot.
With the dwindling stock markets, investors are shying away from the markets. Sample this: the number of applications for opening new demat accounts in Rajkot – one of the top five investment cities in the country, has gone down by 80 per cent.
At a time when Sensex was on peak and Reliance Power public issue had hit the market, each stock broking office in the city used to receive 50 to 60 applications in a single day. However, with BSE benchmark index falling below the level of 10,000, the applications for new demat account has dipped to 5 to 7 a day, said brokers in Rajkot, which is one of the major stock trading centers in India.
“Apart from investors losing interest in opening new demat accounts, less than half of the total demat accounts opened at the time of Reliance Power IPO are operational now. This is even true in case of all the parts of the country,” said Vijay Popat, regional manager (Rajkot), Angel Broking Ltd.
“In Rajkot, we handle 33,000 demat accounts, of which 30 percent are in non-operational,” said Ashok Koyani, CEO- officiating, Saurashtra Kutch Stock Exchange Securities Ltd. SKSE used to have a turnover of Rs. 50 crore when Sensex was on peak levels. However, the turnover has declined by 20 percent.
Opening of new demat accounts are directly related to new IPOs and companies are not willing to take any risk of coming out with a public issue. This has resulted into a slowdown in opening of new demat accounts, added Dr. Alok Chakrawal, General Manager, SKSE Securities Ltd.
