Ahmedabad: Four districts from Gujarat ranked among India’s top 10 contributors to new equity investor registrations in Sept 2026, according to a National Stock Exchange report, underlining the state’s widening footprint beyond its biggest cities. Ahmedabad, Surat, Bhavnagar and Rajkot all featured in the top tier of districts adding fresh market participants during the month.The NSE data showed the top 50 districts accounted for 37.8% of new registrations, while the remaining districts and locations contributed 62.2%, indicating that investor additions are increasingly dispersed across smaller cities and non-metro centres even as major hubs retain dominance.Delhi-NCR led the country with 68,100 new registrations, followed by Mumbai at 43,200. Ahmedabad ranked third nationally at 23,900, while Surat stood fourth at 19,200. Bengaluru was fifth at 17,300. Bhavnagar and Rajkot also made the top 10 list, alongside Jaipur, Pune and North 24 Parganas. Together, the ten leading districts contributed about 18.1% of total registrations during the month.Year-on-year growth rates among the leading districts varied sharply, with Gujarat districts posting some of the strongest gains. Bhavnagar recorded a 156.8% increase, Rajkot rose by 85.7%, Ahmedabad grew by 66.4% and Surat expanded by 53.4% compared to the same month last year. In contrast, Delhi-NCR saw a 7.8% decline, Mumbai fell by 13.3% and Bengaluru dropped by 15.9%, highlighting the shift in incremental growth toward high-participation Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets.Month-on-month trends, however, reflected moderation across most major contributors in Sept. Registrations declined 9.1% in Delhi-NCR, 18.9% in Mumbai, 32.4% in Ahmedabad, 36.5% in Surat and 43.9% in Bhavnagar, indicating that strong annual growth in Gujarat coexisted with a sequential slowdown.At the state level, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of new registrations in Sept at 1.9 lakh, representing 14.4% of the national total. Gujarat followed with 1.5 lakh registrations, or 11.1%, ahead of Maharashtra at 1.3 lakh (9.9%), Rajasthan at about 85,000 (6.4%) and Bihar at around 82,600 (6.3%). Gujarat posted year-on-year growth of 74.1% despite a 35.3% month-on-month drop.Ahmedabad-based stock broker and merchant banker Vanesh Panchal said the pipeline of attractive initial public offerings expected around Oct helped lift retail interest earlier, boosting account openings in the preceding months. “Because IPOs in Oct looked very attractive, Gujarat districts saw a sharp jump in new investor registrations in Aug and Sept, and in Aug, ten districts from Gujarat were among the national top 10,” he said.
