Celebrating Innovation: HDFC SKY Shares Perspectives on India’s F&O Market Growth on National Technology Day

Mumbai, 11 May 2026: On the occasion of National Technology Day, HDFC SKY, the discount broking platform of HDFC Securities, highlighted how technology is reshaping India’s F&O landscape, driving strong participation from Tier 3 and Tier 4 markets.

In recent years, investor participation from smaller cities and towns has surged significantly. While non-metro regions contributed just 25% of new demat accounts in 2019, this figure has now crossed 60%. B30 cities (beyond the top 30 urban centres) accounted for 58% of new SIP accounts between FY20 and FY25, with mutual fund assets growing at over 21% annually to reach Rs. 14.5 lakh crore by September 2025. Monthly SIP contributions have hit a record Rs. 29,361 crore, with more than half of all new investor folios now originating from smaller cities.

As of early 2026, total demat accounts stood at approximately 22.5 crore, with nearly 50% of new additions coming from Tier 2 and 3 cities. Similarly, over 3.5 crore mutual fund investors are from Tier 3 and Tier 4 regions. Emerging towns like Mathura, Jhansi, Roorkee, Bikaner, Cuttack, Meerut, Vijayawada, and Bathinda are also seeing increasing investor participation, driven by rising awareness, digital adoption, and a shift away from traditional asset classes.

Specific to HDFC Securities, the company is witnessing significant traction in the derivatives segment through its discount broking platform, HDFC SKY. The HDFC SKY F&O Dashboard, which offers real-time analytics, actionable insights, and intuitive tools, has achieved over 95% adoption among active traders. The platform caters to a largely young, technologically advanced, and analytical user base, with 66% of users between 26–45 years. Female participation stands at 18.5%, reflecting growing diversity among digitally active investors.

For the HDFC SKY F&O Dashboard, geographically, over 60% of users come from states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana. Tier 1 cities contribute 16% of users, Tier 2 cities account for 23.5%, while Tier 3 and Tier 4 dominate with 60.5%, underscoring the platform’s deep penetration beyond metros. Markets like Rangareddy, Bhavnagar, Guntur, Kheda, Kolhapur, Amritsar, Raichur, Dehradun, Bharuch, Varanasi, Bhilwara, Jalandhar, and others have seen significant uptick in the F&O segment in recent years.

HDFC SKY continues to enable this transformation through seamless digital onboarding, multilingual interfaces, and data-driven insights that simplify investing for new-age users. Its technology-led ecosystem includes AI-powered recommendations, real-time portfolio tracking, advanced charting tools, smart alerts, goal-based investing features, and integrated research reports making investing more accessible and intuitive.

“Technology has fundamentally broadened access to wealth creation opportunities. Today’s investors expect simplicity, speed, and personalized insights, regardless of their location. Innovations such as AI-driven advisory services, voice-enabled investing, and faster settlement cycles will further promote participation from Tier 3 and Tier 4 markets. Moving forward, the organization plans to accelerate its growth by launching new offerings such as Portfolio Analyzer, Quant Research, SKAI the AI Powered Trading Assistant, Algorithmic Trading, and more, each driven entirely by technological advancements and the use of AI,” said Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO of HDFC Securities.

HDFC SKY also offers a comprehensive suite of investing and trading tools, including SKY Signals, margin pledge and margin trading facilities, stock SIPs, ETF and gold ETF investing, along with a consolidated view of users’ external portfolios and mutual fund holdings, further strengthening its position as a next‑generation, technology-led investment platform.