Hans News Service Hyderabad

Telanganaand Andhra Pradesh are home to some of India's most enterprising communities, spanning agriculture, industry, IT and now AI — and a new five-year analysis of IPO applications suggests their next big growth story could be in the stock market itself.

Of the 1.83 crore unique IPO applicants recorded nationally across 33 states and 785 towns, Telangana contributed 3.99 lakh (2.17%) and Andhra Pradesh 4.41 lakh (2.40%) — a combined 8.4 lakh investors already active in India's primary markets. That's a meaningful base to build on, especially with Maharashtra and Gujarat's outsized historical share showing just how much room the rest of the country, including the Telugu states, still has to grow.

The per-capita numbers point to the same opportunity from a different angle. Telangana logged about 10,490 applicants per million people, and Andhra Pradesh 8,316, against a national average of 12,841. Rather than a shortfall in ambition, analysts read this as evidence of strong, disciplined savers — Telugu households save as much as anyone — with substantial headroom to bring more of that saving into listed equity alongside their traditional preference for land and gold.

The state-level patterns hint at where that growth can come from. Hyderabad already drives close to 60% of Telangana's participation, with its tech and pharma workforce placing the city 13th nationally — a strong base to extend into Warangal, Nizamabad and other growing towns. Andhra Pradesh's participation is already well distributed, spanning Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Tirupati, Nellore, Kurnool and Rajahmundry, giving it a broad foundation to build deeper investor engagement across multiple centres rather than one city alone.

Encouragingly, the infrastructure for that growth is already in place. NSE data as of July 4 shows 1.24 crore registered trading accounts from Andhra Pradesh and 61 lakh from Telangana, part of a national investor base that crossed 13 crore unique investors in April. With access no longer a barrier, market watchers say the next step — turning more savers into active equity participants — is well within reach.

Diversification is the route there. Gold and property offer stability, and bank deposits offer predictability, but equities give households a direct share in business growth over the long term-a valuable complement to, not a replacement for, traditional assets.