Summary of this article
India’s investor base may gain 100 million people by 2035.
Individual equity holdings grew 30 per cent annually to $800 billion.
EY proposes a National Wealth Stack to bridge advice gaps.
India’s financial inclusion transformation has been remarkable in recent times. According to the research report titled “Wealth inclusion in India: Expanding investor participation beyond metros", released by Ernst & Young LLP (EY) in September 2026, the country is set for a major financial evolution. Millions of citizens have been connected to the formal financial system through digital identity, universal banking accounts, and real-time payments.
Further, there has also been a fundamental shift in financial behaviour through converting digital access into long-term wealth creation. While India boasts over 580 million Jan Dhan bank accounts and 550 million active Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payment users, active participation in capital markets remains concentrated. According to the report, only 62 million individuals participate in mutual funds and approximately 50 million in equity markets. This massive gap shows a large financial opportunity in the coming decade.
The EY study identifies five converging structural shifts behind this transition. These include rising household prosperity, digital public infrastructure, capital market maturity, AI-enabled personalisation, and the emerging new cohorts of investors.
Let’s see the key points of structural shift.
Inflection Point
The report notes that the total household investable assets expanded to nearly $5.2 trillion in the financial year 2025, of which financial assets have risen to 34 per cent compared to 28 per cent in 2015.
Individual investors now hold 64 per cent of total mutual fund Assets Under Management (AUM), which is nearly $600 billion as of June 2026. Besides this, the direct individual shareholding on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has risen to 9.1 per cent, bringing the total equity ownership by individual investors to 18.7 per cent. The individual equity ownership for the first time in over two decades now exceeds the foreign portfolio investors’ equity ownership of around 15.8 per cent.
By March 2026, the combined individual equity ownership has grown by nearly 30 per cent annually since 2020, reaching $800 billion by March 2026. The demat accounts have increased more than fivefold after the pandemic to over 230 million.
Financial Inclusion Across Regions and Demographics
Investing is also evolving from urban centres to other regions. As per the report, the cities beyond the top 110 now contribute 12 per cent of mutual fund AUM, while districts beyond the top 10 generated 70 per cent of active trading investors (NSE-registered) in FY25 compared to 61 per cent in FY21. Demographically, young investors under the age of 30 account for 38 per cent of active market participants as of June 2026, compared to 23 per cent in FY19.
Women are emerging as major wealth creators. Their mutual fund AUM has grown from $54.3 billion in 2020 to $178 billion in 2025. Women represent 26 per cent of the investors in B30 (beyond the top 30) cities. Long-term investing habits are also deepening, with systematic investment plans (SIPs) making up 35 per cent of individual mutual fund AUM. Micro-SIPs with over 250,000 rural touch-points are bridging access barriers.
Advice Gap And National Wealth Stack
Despite these fundamental changes in investment habits, the report notes a gap between transactions and wealth creation, due to the advice gap. It notes that payments offer immediate utility, but investing requires confidence, long-term discipline, and an understanding of risk.
The report proposes building a national ‘Wealth Stack’ over the existing DPI. This can be done through integrating five layers: access layer (Aadhaar, PAN, KYC, UPI, and digital onboarding), data layer (DigiLocker, account aggregator, etc.), intelligence layer (AI risk profiling, personalised recommendations), advice layers (self-service, hybrid advisory, goal-based planning, etc.), and trust layer (governance, compliance, and investor protection).
According to the report, artificial intelligence (AI) is positioned as a key force multiplier that uses generative and agentic AI along with human advisors for personalised financial guidance. The change is shifting wealth management from a relationship-based endeavour to an intelligence-based standard.
The study covered a pan-India footprint, including metro cities, Tier-2 and Tier-3 growth centres, B30 citizens, and citizens beyond the top 110, districts beyond the top 10, and over 250,000 rural distribution points. It covered people between 18 and 50 years old and older.
