New age fin-tech brokerages, a boon for retail investors

Rapid increase in smartphone users and spread of internet connectivity across every part of the country led to an exceptional usage of technology in performing online trading. The number of internet users in India has increased with a rapid pace to 932.22 mn internet users

Hyderabad: Technology-driven stockbrokers, who are authorised by BSE and NSE, revolutionised the art of trading by executing trade on behalf of the customers, right from opening Demat account to complying of rules and regulations with the use of fintech platforms. During the past five years, latest tech applications facilitated investments in stocks, mutual funds (MFs), gold, IPOs and futures & options (F&O). Particularly, the state-of-the-art investment platforms of discount stockbrokers further fuelled the rise of retail investors.

The entire game of traditional trading changed with the introduction of mobile-based trading for the first time in India in 2010. But this mobile trading got rapid traction in late 2015 and spurred during the period of pandemic especially, where the people were restricted to homes and returns from investment in other assets became uncertain.

People, mostly under 30 years of age, are tech-savvy, but having low financial knowledge, entered stock markets with an aim to earn passive income due to a dip in their main source of income. Even they were left with a lot of time to learn basics in stock markets.

Laxmi Kanth, investment performance analyst, State Street Corporation, said: "Retail investors got a pace mostly in lockdown period where stocks hit all time low in pandemic and people were restricted to homes and had time to get awareness about financial markets. Additionally, the registering and trading was made easy by brokerage firms. This led to divert their funds from uncertain markets like gold, bank deposits and real estate to stock markets."

Adding to this, brokerage platforms facilitated investments with ease, speed and 100 per cent paperless mode. The number of new Demat accounts increased at a booming rate i.e., the number of Indian demat account holders almost tripled in three years from 3.6 crore in March 2019 to 9.96 crore as on March 13, 2022.

The investors have easy access to charts, trade anywhere, anytime with financial data and news related to every stock to make informed decisions. Financial investing became effortless on Android-based smartphone, which is turned into a robust investment platform. Transferring or adding of funds became easy within the apps via Smart Transfer, GPay, BHIM, or net-banking.

Rapid increase in smartphone users and spread of internet connectivity across every part of the country led to an exceptional usage of technology in performing online trading. The number of internet users in India has increased with a rapid pace to 932.22 million internet users as of 2022 and this number is projected to touch 1,134.04 million by 2025 and 1,342.54 million by 2030. Equipped with best network and adequate financial literacy among retail investors, fin-tech brokers in their arsenal are going to disrupt the trading in stock market and make a bull run on Dalal Street.