The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) today conducted an Investor Awareness Programme (IAP) in Rajkot, Gujarat, with the objective of enhancing financial literacy, promoting responsible investing, and strengthening investor awareness across the region.
The programme witnessed enthusiastic participation from new and existing investors, professionals and students. The initiative forms part of NSE’s nationwide efforts to build a financially informed and resilient investor ecosystem for investors financial wellbeing.
Empowering Investors Through Awareness
The new year symbolises new beginnings and smarter financial choices. The session started with understanding financial and securities markets, highlighting the importance of choosing suitable financial products based on individual goals and risk appetite, rights and responsibilities of investors, grievance redressal mechanisms, fraud and scam prevention, etc. The session emphasized the importance of awareness, caution, and informed decision-making in today’s rapidly evolving financial markets.
Recently, SEBI has introduced the ‘SEBI Check’ mechanism where investors can either scan a QR code or manually enter the bank details of any SEBI registered intermediary to check if the UPI ID or bank account is authentic. Investors are requested to check details before making payment to any SEBI registered intermediary.
Gujarat’s Growing Investor Base
Gujarat has a very strong participation in the markets, with ~1.1 crore registered investors, making it the third-largest state by investor base, an 8.7% share of India’s total investors with the 10-year CAGR of over 17% in investor growth. About 11 lakh new investors have been added in 2025 alone. Rajkot is among the top five districts, contributing over 55% of new investor registrations in the state. 28% of investors from Gujarat are women, higher than the national average of 25%.
Shri Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO, NSE, said: “Given Gujarat’s growing investor base, investor awareness is the strongest foundation. At NSE, we believe that informed investors make better decisions which contribute to long-term economic wealth creation. Through initiatives like this Investor Awareness Programme, we aim to empower citizens with the right knowledge, caution them against frauds, and help them participate safely in India’s growth story.”
Robust Investor Awareness and Protection Framework
NSE’s Investor Protection Fund Trust (IPFT) corpus stands at approximately ₹2,754 crore, among the strongest such mechanisms globally.
NSE has conducted over 16,000 Investor Awareness Programmes in FY25-26, so far reaching 8.3 lakh participants across the country. These initiatives span students, women entrepreneurs, rural investors, armed forces personnel, and first-time investors.
The Exchange has also led nationwide campaigns such as #SEBIvsSCAM, aired investor awareness messages across television, print, and digital platforms, and partnered with popular programmes like Kaun Banega Crorepati to spread financial awareness.
Key Investor Safety Messages Highlighted
Participants were advised to:
- Beware of fake trading apps and unregistered entities. Refer – https://investor.sebi.gov.in/Investor-support.html
- Avoid schemes promising guaranteed or unusually high returns
- Exercise caution while trading in derivatives
- Verify intermediaries using SEBI’s “Check Before You Invest” facility. Link – https://siportal.sebi.gov.in/intermediary/sebi-check
- Rely only on SEBI-registered entities and official sources. Verify – https://www.sebi.gov.in/sebiweb/other/OtherAction.do?doRecognised=yes
About National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE):
National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) was the first exchange in India to implement electronic or screen-based trading. It began operations in 1994 and is ranked as the largest stock exchange in India in terms of total and average daily turnover for equity shares every year since 1995, based on SEBI data. NSE has a fully integrated business model comprising exchange listings, trading services, clearing and settlement services, indices, market data feeds, technology solutions and financial
education offerings. NSE also oversees compliance by trading, clearing members and listed companies with the rules and regulations of SEBI and the exchange. NSE is a pioneer in technology and ensures the reliability and performance of its systems through a culture of innovation and investment in technology. NSE is the world’s largest derivatives exchange by trading volume (contracts) as per the statistics maintained by Futures Industry Association (FIA) for calendar year 2024. NSE is ranked 2nd in the world in equity segment by number of trades (electronic order book) in 2024, as per the statistics maintained by World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).
