New Delhi, Sept. 21 -- Every morning, thousands of Indians tap on their smartphones to check the stock market, tracking prices over a cup of chai. But, not many have noticed that there has been a change across the screens over the past few years. Indian retail investors are no longer relying solely on full cash down-payments to buy stocks. Instead, many are borrowing funds directly through their brokerages to buy larger quantities of shares. This mechanism is known as Margin Trading Facility (MTF). Driven by instant digital onboarding that lets anyone open a Demat account in a matter of minutes, the total MTF ledger in India has crossed a whopping Rs.1.2 lakh crore.

With almost every major investment app offering one-click access to leve...