Number of Demat Accounts in Nepal Crosses 53 Lakh; Number of MeroShare Users Applying for IPO Declining

What the markets and market-makers have achieved in the past two years is more than what they could do during the past two decades, as the number DEMAT accounts have increased significantly during these two years.

A Demat Account or Dematerialised Account provides the facility of holding shares and securities in an electronic format. According to CDS and Clearing Limited's official website, there are a total of 53,00,931 Demat accounts in the country. Likewise, 4,401,057 of them use Meroshare, the online application, and shares settlement portal.

Thousands of young people have entered the market as first-time investors since the pandemic-driven lockdowns and the rise of the work-from-home culture, which coincided with the period when benchmarks began to rise following the coronavirus-triggered crash in March 2020.

The IPO craze deserves the credit for permeating the otherwise-untapped parts of the country with investment access. The bull trend during the lockdown also spread investing gossip outside the nation's capital. However, even today, only a fraction of the Demat account holders participate in the secondary market. Also, given the rise of a bear market, recently only 14-15 Lakh users apply for IPO.