India's stock brokers lose 53L clients in 2025 slowdown
What's the story
India's discount brokerage sector has witnessed a major decline in its active client base in 2025. The fall was led by the country's four biggest platforms—Groww, Zerodha, Angel One, and Upstox. The total number of active clients across all brokerages fell by nearly 53.5 lakh during the year, with these four firms accounting for nearly three-fourths of the decline.
Client erosion
Zerodha, Groww, Angel One lead in client losses
Zerodha, founded by Nithin and Nikhil Kamath, witnessed the biggest loss with nearly 12.68 lakh active clients leaving over the year. Groww, India's largest brokerage platform, followed closely with a decline of nearly 10.32 lakh clients. Angel One and Upstox also saw significant drops in their active client bases—by around 9.96 lakh and roughly 8.09 lakh, respectively, during this period.
Market impact
Other brokerages also witness significant client losses
Other brokerages such as Mirae Asset Capital, Sharekhan, 5Paisa Capital, Kotak Securities, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, PhonePe Wealth Broking, Finvasia Securities and Fyers Securities also saw major losses in their active client bases. The sustained decline has been attributed to a sharp fall in futures and options participation after SEBI introduced stricter rules last year.
Regulatory impact
SEBI's stricter rules and market volatility
The stricter rules introduced by SEBI include higher margin requirements, fewer weekly expiries, higher capital thresholds, and increased taxation. All these changes have made derivatives trading less attractive for retail investors. The decline in activity also coincided with a major correction in domestic equities since early 2025 amid stretched valuations, weak corporate earnings, and continued foreign investor outflows.
Growth amid decline
Some brokerages buck the trend with client growth
Despite the overall trend, some brokerages managed to grow their active client bases during the year. SBIcap Securities added around 1.55 lakh clients while Paytm Money gained 1.41 lakh new clients and ICICI Securities attracted about 79,000 active clients. Other companies like Moneywise Finvest, Choice Equity Broking, HDFC Securities, Univest Stock Broking, Tradesmart Fintech, Bajaj Financial Securities, and Yes Securities also saw increases between 12,000-30,000 active clients during this period.