The plain answer
A depository participant is the intermediary that opens and maintains your demat account with NSDL or CDSL. Individuals never deal with the depository directly: every demat service, from opening the account to selling shares, pledging them or closing the account, runs through a DP. Your broker is usually your DP too, but the roles are separate licences with separate regulators, and the distinction matters the day something goes wrong.
The DP is also the institution you actually pay on the demat side. The DP charge on your sells, the AMC, the transfer and dematerialisation fees, all of them are DP tariffs passed to you, because the depository bills the DP and the DP bills you. Understanding the DP is therefore the same as understanding where your account's fees come from.
Two registrations, one firm
A firm like Upstox carries at least two licences: a stockbroker registration for executing trades on the exchange, and a depository participant registration for maintaining demat accounts. The broker licence is supervised through the exchange and SEBI; the DP licence is supervised through the depository it belongs to and SEBI. The same person you call for both, but two regulators stand behind the two jobs.
You can confirm both on the firm's website. Brokers publish their registration details, and each depository maintains a list of its Depository Participants. A trading-only licence without a DP registration would be unusual for a retail broker, but the check takes a minute and settles the question.
The regulations behind the DP
The DP's entire existence runs on one rulebook: the SEBI (Depositories and Participants) Regulations, 2018, notified on 3 October 2018. The regulations specify who may become a DP, how they register, what they owe you and what happens when they fail.
Regulation 32 lists who is eligible: SEBI-registered stock brokers, banks included in the Second Schedule to the RBI Act, NBFCs, custodians, clearing corporations and registrars to an issue, among others. An applicant must also be "fit and proper" and apply through the depository it wants to join, using the prescribed form.
Capital requirements sit behind the licence. A stock broker acting as a DP must maintain a minimum net worth, set at ₹3 crore from 23 February 2023 and ₹5 crore from 23 February 2024, verified annually. A DP that cannot maintain the requirement can lose the registration, and its accounts get transferred to another DP, which is the regulation's way of making sure your record outlives any individual firm.
The regulations also bind the DP to you personally. Before acting for you, the DP must enter into an agreement with you as beneficial owner; it must supply statements of your account and act only on your instructions, and it must reconcile its records with the depository every day. A DP that ignores your instruction or misreports your holding is in breach of the same rules that SEBI enforces with fines, suspension and cancellation.
What the DP actually does
- Maintains your BO account. The DP holds your records with the depository: holdings, personal details, nominee and bank linkage.
- Processes credits and debits. Buys credit on settlement day; sells debit against your TPIN, and the DP charge applies at that debit.
- Passes on corporate actions. Dividends, bonus shares and splits reach you through the DP's records, which is why the depository's record date matches the DP's balance for you.
- Handles requests. Transfer, dematerialisation, rematerialisation, pledge and closure requests all run through the DP.
- Keeps the audit trail. Every instruction you give, every debit and credit, lives in the DP's books for years, which is what makes dispute resolution possible at all.
One job the DP explicitly does not have: it cannot trade on your behalf or take custody of your money. The demat side holds securities records only. Money always settles through the trading account and the bank, which is the separation the regulations build in.
How to choose one
- Check both registrations. Both licence details are published on the firm's website. A trading licence without a DP licence is unusual and worth understanding before you open.
- Read the DP charge row. The sell-side DP charge is the fee you will actually meet. The table below compares the four major brokers as published on 16 August 2026.
- Look at service requests. Transfer and closure fees, statement charges and the pledge process differ by DP. The pricing page covers them, and a DP that publishes them plainly beats one that buries them.
- Confirm the grievance path. Every DP publishes a grievance officer. A named, reachable grievance channel matters more than any single fee, because it is the channel you will use when a record disagrees with your memory.
DP charges compared
| Broker (DP) | DP charge on a sell | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Upstox | ₹20 + GST per scrip per day | Sell side only |
| Zerodha | ₹15.34 per scrip, GST included | ₹3.50 CDSL fee + ₹9.50 Zerodha fee + ₹2.34 GST |
| Groww | ₹3.50 depository + ₹16.50 Groww per sell | ₹0 for debit value under ₹100 |
| Angel One | ₹20 + GST per ISIN | Flat per ISIN on the sell |
The table shows the two-part structure from the FAQ above. Zerodha publishes its breakdown openly: a CDSL component of ₹3.50, a firm component of ₹9.50 and GST of ₹2.34. Every broker's number works the same way, a fixed depository fee plus a firm fee, published as one total. The total is what you compare.
Switching DPs
Switching is a three-step process that most people get backwards: open the new account first, transfer the holdings, then close the old account. The transfer needs your TPIN and may carry an off-market transfer fee, published on the DP's pricing page. Brokers commonly process bulk portfolio transfers without the per-scrip fee, so ask for the portfolio transfer route before doing it manually.
The order of the steps matters. Opening the new account first gives the shares somewhere to land. Closing the old account last stops its AMC, which keeps running until the closure actually completes. People who close first find themselves holding paper instructions and no account, which is the one mistake the sequence exists to prevent.
Transfers between brokers also work across depositories. A holding can move from an NSDL account to a CDSL account through the same delivery instruction, so switching your DP never means selling your shares. The full mechanics live on the share transfer guide.
Complaints, in order
- Step 1: the DP's grievance officer. Contact details are published on the DP's website, and the reply is time-bound. File in writing and keep the reference number.
- Step 2: the depository. NSDL and CDSL run investor grievance desks for issues their participant did not resolve. They can inspect the DP's books and direct a correction.
- Step 3: SEBI SCORES. The regulator's complaint system tracks the case until closure and requires the intermediary to respond. Use it after the first two steps, not instead of them.
The escalation ladder is designed to resolve most cases at step one. Grievance officers know their firm's records, and a precise complaint, account number, date, expected versus actual balance, gets answered quickly. Vague complaints take longer at every level.
What people usually get wrong
The DP and the broker are the same thing
The same firm, usually, but different licences, different regulators and different complaint channels. Holdings complaints go to the depository; trading complaints go to the exchange.
DP charges are negotiable
The depository component is set by NSDL or CDSL. Only the broker's service fee portion varies, and even that is published, not haggled.
I cannot change my DP once the account is open
You can transfer holdings to a new DP any time. The cost is the transfer fee and the discipline to close the old account afterwards.
The DP holds my shares, so I depend on the DP staying solvent
The record sits with the depository, and a DP that fails has its accounts transferred to another DP under the regulations. Your ownership is not the DP's asset.
Questions people ask
Usually, because most brokers hold both licences and open the demat account under their DP registration. But the two registrations are separate, with separate regulators and complaint channels. Check the firm's website: the stockbroker registration and the DP registration should both be published.
Technically yes, the demat account and the trading account can sit with different entities, but the arrangement is rare and operationally clumsy, because every delivery sell needs the trading and demat systems to talk. Almost every investor in practice uses the same firm for both.
Open the new demat account first, transfer the holdings, then close the old account so its AMC stops. The transfer needs your TPIN and can carry an off-market transfer fee, though brokers commonly process bulk portfolio transfers without the per-scrip fee. Ask for the portfolio transfer route before doing anything manual.
First to the DP's grievance officer, whose contact is published on its website. If unresolved, escalate to the depository's investor services (NSDL or CDSL), and after that to SEBI's SCORES portal, which tracks the complaint to closure. Each step has a defined response time, so file at the first step the day you notice the error.
Because the DP charge has two parts. The depository component is set by NSDL or CDSL and is the same for every DP registered with that depository; the broker's own service fee sits on top and differs by firm. The published total is what you compare, and it changes when the broker revises its schedule, not when you negotiate.
A stockbroker is registered to execute trades on the exchanges; a DP is registered to maintain demat accounts with a depository. One firm usually holds both registrations, but the licences, the supervisors and the duties are distinct. Holdings and instructions belong to the DP side, orders and margins to the broker side.
Where to go next
The DP is the hands; the depository is the ledger. Both lead naturally to the identifiers and charges you will meet on every statement:
Sources
- National Securities Depository Limited. “Securities and Exchange Board of India (Depositories and Participants) Regulations, 2018.” Accessed 16 August 2026.
- National Securities Depository Limited. “Joining NSDL as Depository Participant.” Accessed 16 August 2026.
- Upstox, RKSV Securities India Pvt Ltd. “Brokerage charges.” Accessed 16 August 2026.
- Zerodha Broking Ltd. “Charges: equity, F&O, currency and commodity.” Accessed 16 August 2026.
- Groww Invest Tech Private Limited. “Pricing — account opening, AMC and brokerage.” Accessed 16 August 2026.