How much speculation is there?
Where the borrowed money sits
Brokers' margin-trading loans totalled ₹1.50 lakh crore in the week to 1 Oct 2026. Small caps took 48% of it but are 19% of market value, 2.5 times their weight. 184 stocks now carry margin funding worth 2% or more of their market value, against 2 in Jan 2018.
Written for traders and investors watching leverage in Indian stocks, and anyone asking where forced selling would hit first. Data to 1 Oct 2026.
The book since 2004
NSE has published each stock's margin funding daily since April 2004. Until 2017 the book was a few hundred crore at most. SEBI revised its margin-trading framework in June 2017, the facility became widely offered, and the book has grown since to ₹1.50 lakh crore.
Outstanding margin funding, weekly
Log scale: equal steps are equal percentage changes.
How to read it. Read the two regimes separately. The early book was small and moved with brokers' choices; since 2017 it tracks how much traders borrow to buy shares.
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Spread or concentrated
2,196 stocks carry margin funding. The ten largest positions hold 12% of the book, down from 15% in early 2018. As concentrated as 280 equal positions.
Share of the book in the largest positions
Weekly, from 2018.
How to read it. A falling line means borrowing is spreading across more stocks. That lowers the risk from any one stock, but more small stocks are now exposed.
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The tilt to small caps
Measured against each size group's market value, the book is 83 basis points of small caps, 28 of mid caps and 17 of large caps. Size groups follow AMFI's half-yearly list in force at each date.
The margin book by company size
Share of the funded amount in stocks AMFI ranks large (1-100), mid (101-250) and small (251 on). The few unmatched stocks are left out.
How to read it. Small caps have been 9% to 19% of market value since 2018 but 19% to 52% of the book. Their share of the book was lowest in May 2020.
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The book against each group's market value
Funded amount in the group over the group's six-month average market cap, basis points (100 bps = 1%).
How to read it. Since Jan 2018 the book has grown against market value in every group: large caps 1 to 17 bps, small caps 11 to 83. In small caps it is now 4.9 times the large-cap level.
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Where borrowing is heaviest
Stocks where margin funding is large against the company's value are the ones where forced selling would move the price most. 462 stocks are at 1% or more and 21 at 5% or more; stocks at 2% or more hold 20% of the book.
Stocks with margin funding above a share of their market value
Funded amount over AMFI's six-month average market cap, from 2018.
How to read it. Since Jan 2023 the count at 2% or more has gone from 8 to 184, while the book grew 5.3 times: borrowing has reached more, and smaller, companies.
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| NSE symbol | Size (AMFI) | Margin funding | Average market cap | Funding / market cap | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TFCILTD | Small | ₹701 cr | ₹3,270 cr | 21.4% | |
| SBC | Small | ₹274 cr | ₹1,576 cr | 17.4% | |
| RATNAVEER | Small | ₹159 cr | ₹1,056 cr | 15.0% | |
| MANGLMCEM | Small | ₹190 cr | ₹2,305 cr | 8.2% | |
| MOTISONS | Small | ₹108 cr | ₹1,323 cr | 8.1% | |
| PAISALO | Small | ₹270 cr | ₹3,824 cr | 7.1% | |
| KTKBANK | Small | ₹601 cr | ₹8,731 cr | 6.9% | |
| ZEEL | Small | ₹581 cr | ₹8,578 cr | 6.8% | |
| NAZARA | Small | ₹644 cr | ₹9,992 cr | 6.4% | |
| PROTEAN | Small | ₹155 cr | ₹2,404 cr | 6.4% | |
| MOREPENLAB | Small | ₹143 cr | ₹2,284 cr | 6.2% | |
| SAMMAANCAP | Small | ₹893 cr | ₹14,550 cr | 6.1% | |
| ARIS | Small | ₹55.7 cr | ₹944 cr | 5.9% | |
| RAIN | Small | ₹276 cr | ₹5,016 cr | 5.5% | |
| KIRIINDUS | Small | ₹142 cr | ₹2,589 cr | 5.5% | |
| VIYASH | Small | ₹460 cr | ₹8,594 cr | 5.4% | |
| MANINDS | Small | ₹180 cr | ₹3,388 cr | 5.3% | |
| ONEPOINT | Small | ₹77.2 cr | ₹1,458 cr | 5.3% | |
| MUFIN | Small | ₹104 cr | ₹2,004 cr | 5.2% | |
| COMSYN | Small | ₹32.8 cr | ₹636 cr | 5.2% | |
| SHRINGARMS | Small | ₹106 cr | ₹2,063 cr | 5.1% | |
| SHANTIGOLD | Small | ₹72.5 cr | ₹1,485 cr | 4.9% | |
| JTLIND | Small | ₹126 cr | ₹2,610 cr | 4.8% | |
| STYLEBAAZA | Small | ₹110 cr | ₹2,394 cr | 4.6% | |
| GENESYS | Small | ₹55.9 cr | ₹1,224 cr | 4.6% | |
| HCC | Small | ₹238 cr | ₹5,234 cr | 4.5% | |
| ABFRL | Small | ₹358 cr | ₹7,890 cr | 4.5% | |
| SIRCA | Small | ₹113 cr | ₹2,505 cr | 4.5% | |
| GCSL | Small | ₹37.1 cr | ₹822 cr | 4.5% | |
| MOBIKWIK | Small | ₹70.5 cr | ₹1,584 cr | 4.5% | |
| SDBL | Small | ₹68.0 cr | ₹1,637 cr | 4.2% | |
| SWSOLAR | Small | ₹192 cr | ₹4,619 cr | 4.1% | |
| HUBTOWN | Small | ₹121 cr | ₹2,975 cr | 4.1% | |
| ZAGGLE | Small | ₹134 cr | ₹3,311 cr | 4.0% | |
| HINDOILEXP | Small | ₹81.2 cr | ₹2,008 cr | 4.0% | |
| PCJEWELLER | Small | ₹288 cr | ₹7,162 cr | 4.0% | |
| GSPCROP | Small | ₹76.7 cr | ₹1,945 cr | 3.9% | |
| ANANTRAJ | Small | ₹731 cr | ₹18,562 cr | 3.9% | |
| KNRCON | Small | ₹144 cr | ₹3,720 cr | 3.9% | |
| OLECTRA | Small | ₹366 cr | ₹9,454 cr | 3.9% |
The book in market falls
Every fall of 10% or more in the Nifty 500 since mid-2017. In 2020 the book shrank 39% from the peak to the trough, about as much as the market fell. In 2 of the 6 falls the book was larger at the trough than at the peak: traders borrowed to buy the dip.
| Market peak | Trough | Nifty 500 fall | Book, peak to trough | Book, 3 months after | Index back at its high | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-01-23 | 2018-03-23 | −10.6% | +3.8% | −10.8% | 2018-08-20 | |
| 2018-08-31 | 2018-10-26 | −15.6% | −20.7% | +19.8% | 2019-11-28 | |
| 2020-01-17 | 2020-03-23 | −38.1% | −38.8% | +31.7% | 2020-11-06 | |
| 2021-10-18 | 2022-06-20 | −17.8% | +6.3% | +16.3% | 2022-11-15 | |
| 2022-12-01 | 2023-03-28 | −11.1% | −1.6% | +13.6% | 2023-06-07 | |
| 2024-09-26 | 2025-02-28 | −18.6% | −12.7% | +9.8% | not yet |
The workings
Data
Every chart has a table view, a CSV download and a link to its published JSON. Bundles are listed in data status.