Discount brokerages record mixed trends in November as client exits persist

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India’s discount brokerages reported a mixed performance in November, with several major platforms witnessing a sharp erosion in active clients even as a few players continued to expand their user base. While Zerodha, Angel One and Upstox saw notable declines, firms such as Groww, SBICap Securities and ICICI Securities posted gains during the month.The broader market data pointed to continued churn among retail investors. The combined active client base across all stockbrokers fell by 2.16 lakh in November, following a reduction of 57,650 in October, 8.88 lakh in September and 9.72 lakh in August. The decline in July stood at 7.22 lakh.During the June quarter, active clients dropped by 13.13 lakh, while the March quarter saw a fall of 9.63 lakh. Since January, more than 51 lakh active clients have exited the system, bringing the total number to 4.53 crore in November 2025 from 5.02 crore in December 2024.Groww, India’s largest brokerage platform, continued its rebound after months of contraction. The company added nearly 41,883 active clients in November, following an increase of about 1.38 lakh in October. This comes after the platform lost more than 12.5 lakh active clients between January and September.ICICI Securities added 18,630 clients during the month, SBICap Securities gained 29,671, and Paytm Money recorded 22,047 additions.The gains came against a backdrop of relatively firm benchmark indices in November, with the Sensex and Nifty advancing around 2 percent each. Broader markets, however, saw volatility, with the BSE MidCap index edging up 0.4 percent while the BSE SmallCap index declined 3.4 percent.Several discount brokerages continued to face steep attrition. Zerodha, led by Nithin and Nikhil Kamath, recorded the sharpest fall with a loss of nearly 1 lakh active clients. Upstox and Angel One followed with client reductions of around 65,000 and 55,000 respectively.HDFC Securities and Indstocks each saw a decline of around 21,000 active clients, while Kotak Securities and PhonePe Wealth reported drops of 20,000 and 19,000. Sharekhan and Mirae Assets each lost about 8,000 active clients during the month.

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