CDSL likely to post flattish growth in Q4FY26

Debasis Mohapatra

Bengaluru, 12 March 2026

India’s largest depository services provider, CDSL (Central Depository Services Ltd) is likely to post flattish growth in the fourth quarter of ongoing financial year (Q4FY26).

According to a report by brokerage firm-ICICI Securities, CDSL’s net profit is expected to be at a similar range in January-March period of FY26 as compared to last quarter. In Q3FY26, CDSL reported a net profit of Rs 133.33 crore.

The report by ICICI Securities noted that the company is likely to see uptick in its transaction services.

“Systemic cash ADTV (NSE + BSE) has witnessed robust QoQ growth of 18.9% in Q4FY26–TD, and stands at INR 1,26,800 crore. This should translate to strong growth in transaction revenue in Q4FY26,” the report said.

Though transaction revenue is likely to see an uptick owing to higher trading volume, non-transaction revenue coming from IPOs and corporate actions (CAs) like bonus issue, stock split is expected to go down owing to market volatility.

“Q2 & Q3 of FY26 saw strong activity in the IPO market with 141 & 125 IPOs (mainboard + SME) going live. However, with changing market sentiment in Q4FY26, the number of IPOs slumped to 18 in January 2026,” the report said.

Similarly, online data charges are likely to decline during the fourth quarter of ongoing financial year. Usually, when a new account is opened by an investor for transacting mutual fund units or investing in equity market through demat account, the broker fetches the information from CDSL like depository for completing the KYC (know your customer) norm. This is called as fetch charge. As CDSL has reduced the fetch charges to Rs 28 from Rs 35, this will impact the revenue from data charges.

“In 9MFY26 (April-December 2025) while revenue growth has been lacklustre, at 2.7%, due to weak capital markets; cost growth has continued at a similar pace with 20.5% YoY growth during this period, leading to a drop in EBITDA margin to 57.7% in FY25 to 53.1% in 9MFY26,” the report noted.

Slower demat account opening by investors may also impact the earning to a smaller extent, the report said adding that CDSL holds around 80-85% share in total demat account space.