Dalal Street investors became richer by Rs 30.20 lakh crore this year, helped by over 8 per cent surge in the BSE benchmark Sensex, despite facing multiple headwinds in the form of foreign fund exodus, tariff-related uncertainties, elevated valuations and a weakening rupee.

Analysts said despite the headwinds, stock markets demonstrated resilience, helped by strong domestic investor support and macroeconomic stability, which was marked by strong GDP growth.

"Despite outflows continuing to be an issue for foreign investors, the resilience of the market was demonstrated. One of the key drivers for the Indian market in 2025 has been the presence of robust domestic investor support," Nitin Rao, CEO, InCred Wealth, said.

Till December 29, this year, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 6,556.53 points, or 8.39 per cent. The benchmark hit its record high of 86,159.02 on December 1.

The market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed firms surged by Rs 30,20,376.68 crore to Rs 4,72,15,483.12 crore (USD 5.25 trillion) so far this year.

The mcap of BSE-listed companies had hit the coveted Rs 400-lakh crore mark for the first time in April last year.

The year 2025 can be best described as a year of consolidation and transition for Indian equities, Ponmudi R, CEO, Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.

"After several years of strong double-digit returns, benchmark indices delivered more moderate gains, with Sensex and Nifty rising around 8-10 per cent for the year. While these returns may appear modest compared to previous years, they came amid global headwinds, foreign fund outflows, and valuation corrections," he noted.

On the domestic front, markets grappled with muted corporate earnings growth, elevated valuations, a weakening rupee, and persistent FII (Foreign Institutional Investors) outflows, Santosh Meena, Head of Research at Swastika Investmart, said.

These factors kept sentiment cautious despite a stable macro backdrop, he said.

Globally, markets were influenced by geopolitical tensions, tariff-related uncertainties, and evolving US Federal Reserve interest rate expectations, Meena added.

In 2025, foreign investors pulled out a record Rs 1.6 lakh crore (USD 18 billion) from the stock market.

Pranay Aggarwal, Director and CEO of Stoxkart, a discount brokerage firm, said, Indian markets were supported by resilient economic growth, strong government capital expenditure, and sustained domestic investor inflows.

However, bouts of volatility emerged due to foreign fund outflows, elevated valuations, and global risk-off phases linked to interest rates, geopolitics, and currency movements, he said.

A record number of initial public offerings (IPOs) this year also helped markets log gains.

Among the year's largest main-board IPOs, Tata Capital's Rs 15,512 crore issue topped the list, followed by HDB Financial Services (Rs 12,500 crore), LG Electronics India (Rs 11,607 crore), Hexaware Technologies (Rs 8,750 crore), Lenskart Solutions (Rs 7,278 crore) and Billionbrains Garage Ventures (Rs 6,632 crore).

In India, consistent SIP inflows, increased retail participation, and confidence in the long-term growth story have provided stability even during global volatility, Pranay Aggarwal of Stoxkart, said.

Reliance Industries is the country's most-valued firm in terms of market valuation. The company has a market capitalisation of Rs 20,91,173 crore, followed by HDFC Bank (Rs 15,25,457.75 crore), Bharti Airtel (Rs 11,86,978.75 crore), Tata Consultancy Services (Rs 11,77,199.05 crore), and ICICI Bank (Rs 9,60,478.36 crore) in the top-five order.

"Against the backdrop of healthy returns during 2020-2024 period, 2025 has turned out to be a year of consolidation and mean reversion. Some pockets of markets were trading at an expensive valuation and this coupled with earnings slowdown with increasing global uncertainties led to correction in the market during the 1Q of the 2025 followed by gradual recovery since April 2025 across large caps," Sunny Agrawal, Head, Fundamental Research at SBI Securities, said.

The Sensex had jumped 5,898.75 points or 8.16 per cent last year. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms had surged Rs 77.66 lakh crore to Rs 4,41,95,106.44 crore in 2024.

In 2023, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies climbed sharply by Rs 81.90 lakh crore.

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