New demat accounts jump to a record high in FY21
With the surge in the equity markets to record highs, there has been a record opening of demat accounts so far in financial year 2021.
According to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), new demat account additions rose to an all-time high of 10.7 million between April 2020 and January 2021. This represents an increase of more than double the new accounts opened in the 2019-20 financial year which stood at 4.7 million.
In January 2021 alone, 1.7 million new demat accounts were added, the highest monthly increase since September 2019 when 1.9 million new accounts were opened. As of January 2021, India’s total demat accounts stood at 51.5 million as compared to 40.8 million in FY20 and 35.9 million in FY19.
People having more disposable income as well as free time to trade as most of them were working from home, markets were volatile and at low points during the start of FY21 because of which first-time investors and millennials have been grabbing the opportunity for an alternative source of income.
EaseMyTrip IPO gets subscribed 2.34 times on day 1
The Rs 510 crore initial public offering (IPO) of ticket-booking site Easy Trip Planners Ltd was subscribed 2.34 times on the first day with retail portion leading with 12.64 times subscription.
The IPO received 35.11 million bids against the issue size of 15 million shares, according to stock exchange data. Retail investors placed 34.48 million bids as against the 2.74 million shares on offer, while the portion reserved for non-institutional investors was subscribed 0.15 times.
EaseMyTrip is the only player among the key online travel agencies (OTA) in India which has been consistently earning profits. Being 100% bootstrapped, cost efficiency is in the DNA of the company and that has enabled them to manage profitability.
Karnataka slashes stamp duty charges to 3%
Following in the footsteps of Maharashtra, the Karnataka government has proposed a 2% stamp duty reduction for homes valued between Rs 35 lakhs to Rs 45 lakhs, the state government said in its Budget announcement.
To promote affordable housing, the stamp duty for the first registration of apartments valued between Rs 35 lakhs to Rs 45 lakhs is proposed to be cut to 3% from 5%.
Though the move will strike the right sentiment, it is not likely to give a significant boost to housing sales as compared to Maharashtra (especially in Mumbai) as the government there reduced stamp duty for properties across all budget categories.
