2.5 crore women investors added in last 10 years: NSE CEO Ashish Chauhan

Speaking at Business Today Most Powerful Women (MPW) event, Ashish Kumar Chauhan, MD and CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), highlighted a notable shift in India's investment landscape, revealing that women are increasingly becoming active investors.

Chauhan said that the NSE’s registered investor base has expanded to cover 99.85% of India's pincodes, with a total count of 12.2 crore investors. Of this vast pool, female participation has surged significantly. “One-fourth of our 12.2 crore investors are women,” Chauhan said, emphasising the speed of this adoption. He pointed out that in the last decade alone, 2.5 crore women out of 3 crore women have been added with a CAGR of 25%.

The NSE chief connected this equity participation to a wider narrative of financial inclusion. He cited that out of 56 crore Jan Dhan accounts, 56% belong to women. This financial deepening is supported by a robust rise in the workforce, with female labor force participation climbing from 23% in FY18 to 42% in financial year 24, he said. 

Beyond investing, women are reshaping corporate governance. Chauhan highlighted that women now hold roughly one-fifth of all board seats across listed firms, strengthening oversight. On the entrepreneurial front, he noted that women now lead about 1.6 crore businesses. With the NSE hosting over 2,900 listed entities—including 700 SME companies—Chauhan asserted that women-led and women-managed businesses will be one of its strongest engines for India’s journey toward becoming a global economic powerhouse.

 

Meanwhile, Indian equity markets witnessed a choppy week, closing lower as investors navigated domestic headwinds and uncertain global cues. However, a recovery in the final two sessions cushioned the fall. On Friday, the BSE Sensex advanced 449.53 points, or 0.53%, to end at 85,267.66. The NSE Nifty50 mirrored the move, rising 148.40 points, or 0.57%, to settle at 26,046.95.