New Delhi. Retail investors have once again been seen becoming active in the Indian stock market. In the September 2025 quarter, these small investors invested a lot of money in everything from big companies to new emerging stocks. Statistics show that he has invested an amount of about Rs 18,000 crore in just 10 companies. Most of the money has been invested in BSE Limited. Apart from this, there has also been decent inflow in companies like TCS, Trent. Among new age companies, retail investors have expressed confidence in Ola Electrical.
According to Prime Database data, retail investors put in a huge amount of Rs 6,089 crore in BSE. Interestingly, this happened when the share price had fallen by 26 percent during the quarter. Many experienced investors considered this an opportunity to buy cheaply and included it in their portfolio. After this, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) became the second choice of retail investors, in which Rs 4,531 crore was invested. At the same time, purchases worth Rs 1,752 crore were seen in Trend Limited, another company of Tata Group.
The attraction of the new generation of investors is no longer limited to traditional companies only. He invested Rs 793 crore in Ola Electric Mobility. Along with this, investments were also made in KPR Mill, Suzlon Energy, Shriram Finance and Angel One.
A total amount of more than Rs 18,000 crore came into these 10 companies. This makes it clear that Indian retail investors are not afraid of market decline or instability. They are now showing equal confidence in both old companies and new emerging stories.
Where did retail investors book profits?
On the other hand, retail investors also booked profits in many big companies. There was a withdrawal of Rs 9,361 crore from HDFC Bank, which was the biggest sale of this quarter. Apart from this, sales of Rs 2,229 crore were recorded in Adani Power and Rs 1,787 crore in State Bank of India (SBI). Investors also decided to take profits in stocks like Tata Steel, Nestle India and Hindustan Unilever.
Nevertheless, the influence of retail investors in the Indian market is continuously increasing. By September 2025, the share of retail investors in NSE listed companies will now be 7.43 percent in terms of value and 16.38 percent in terms of volume.
A trend also emerged that retail investors sometimes move opposite to institutional investors (Mutual Funds and FIIs). For example, when mutual funds reduced their stake in big stocks, common investors bought shares like BSE, TCS, and Infosys. This is considered a contrarian approach. That means buying when others are selling.
Decline in preferred shares
Although retail investors’ preferred shares declined by an average of 6.55 per cent during the quarter, participation by retailers in more than 1,000 companies increased. This shows that despite the difficult market conditions, their enthusiasm did not diminish.
According to Shrikant Chauhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities, “Consumer demand slowed slightly in the second quarter, while discretionary sectors (like fashion, luxury products) showed a mild recovery. Loan growth of banks remained normal, while metals and oil marketing companies performed better than expected.”
Vinay Pahadia, CIO of PGIM India Mutual Fund, believes that the Indian market is still attractive in the long term. There are better investment opportunities in domestic consumption, financials, healthcare and telecom sectors. Whereas one should be cautious in IT, energy and utility sectors.
Loss in F&O, profit in equity
According to a study by SEBI, a total of 91.1% of retail traders in the equity futures and options (F&O) segment suffered net losses in the financial year 2024 (April 2023 to March 2024). Their number was said to be around 73 lakh. They faced a loss of Rs 1.2 lakh per trader. And the total net loss was more than Rs 75,000 crore. Note that most retail investors made profits in cash equities (delivery trades) as the market was bullish, but incurred huge losses in F&O.
