The short answer
A demat account does not have one yearly price. Two things decide it: what the broker charges for holding the account, and how often you sell shares out of it. A quiet year on a single account, with holdings under ₹4 lakh and one sale, can come in under ₹350. The same account traded daily crosses ₹13,000. Brokerage is a small part of that difference.
| Profile | Brokerage + GST | DP charges + GST | Statutory | AMC | Year total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A light long-term investor | ₹165.20 | ₹23.60 | ₹127.62 | ₹0 | ₹316.42 |
| A monthly SIP investor who sells occasionally | ₹165.20 | ₹212.40 | ₹125.31 | ₹0 | ₹502.91 |
| An active trader | ₹9,440.00 | ₹283.20 | ₹3,768.16 | ₹0 | ₹13,491.36 |
Each column is a layer, and the layers behave differently. Brokerage and DP charges are set by the broker. The statutory column is set by government and the exchanges, applies at every broker in India, and moves with turnover rather than with the broker. The AMC is a holding cost rather than a trading cost, and it is the one line here that can be removed by structure instead of by trading less.
All three profiles sit under ₹4 lakh of holdings, so the annual maintenance charge is nil under the BSDA rules and the AMC column reads ₹0. Everything else is computed from Upstox’s published rate card and the statutory rates, both read on 16 September 2026, and each profile is priced line by line further down this page with its assumptions written out.
DematOpen is an Authorized Person of Upstox, and we earn when an account opens through this site. You pay nothing extra for that, and every figure below is the charge a broker applies to any customer.
The five charges that make up a year
Five charges can appear in a year. Three are per transaction, one is per scrip sold, and one recurs whether you trade or not. If you already know what AMC and DP stand for, the useful part here is which of them scale with activity and which do not.
Opening, usually ₹0
Account opening is ₹0 at Upstox, and the trading account arrives with the demat account at no separate charge. The same ₹0 appears at most discount brokers. Where a broker does charge for opening, the fee covers paperwork, a relationship or a relationship manager, and it is worth asking which. This line appears once, in year one, and never again.
AMC, from year two
The annual maintenance charge is the fee for keeping the account alive. Upstox publishes ₹300 + GST for non-BSDA accounts, with a free first year for newly onboarded customers. Zerodha publishes ₹300 per year plus GST for non-BSDA accounts, billed quarterly, and HDFC Sky publishes ₹20 per month after a free first year. The figure to plan around is the year-two one, because year one is an offer and year two is the price.
Brokerage, per executed order
Brokerage is charged per order. At Upstox, delivery is ₹20 flat per executed order, intraday is ₹20 or 0.1%, whichever is lower, and options are a flat ₹20, so no single order carries more than ₹20 of brokerage however large it is. Zerodha publishes ₹0 on delivery and 0.03% or ₹20 on intraday, whichever is lower. Groww and Angel One publish ₹20 or 0.1% on equity, whichever is lower, with a ₹5 minimum. The model matters more than the headline number: a flat cap rewards large orders, and a percentage rewards small ones.
DP charges, per scrip on every sale
The DP charge pays for moving shares out of your demat account when they are sold. At Upstox it is ₹20 + GST per scrip, per day, charged only on the sell side of a delivery trade. It applies per scrip, per day, so selling three different companies on one day produces three charges, and it applies from your first sale on a ₹0 AMC account exactly as it does on any other. A buy never carries it, because nothing leaves the account.
- You sell shares of three companies on one day
- Settlement records three separate scrip debits
- The DP charge applies per scrip, per day
- Three charges of ₹20 plus GST, so ₹70.80
The arithmetic is worth doing once. Three scrips sold on one day is ₹70.80 including GST, which is more than the brokerage on all three orders combined. On a small sale this single line usually decides the total, and it is the line most rate-card comparisons leave out.
Statutory charges, per trade
STT, stamp duty, exchange transaction charges, the SEBI turnover fee and GST are set by government and by the exchanges. Every broker collects them at the same rates, so they move with the value you trade and not with the broker you trade through. That is why two brokers quoting very different brokerage can produce contract notes within a few rupees of each other on the same order.
The BSDA line that changes everything
The Basic Services Demat Account is the largest single lever on a yearly bill, and it is a SEBI rule rather than a broker offer. The framework in force since 1 September 2024 caps the annual maintenance charge by the value of your holdings: nil up to ₹4 lakh, ₹100 per year from ₹4 lakh to ₹10 lakh, and no cap above ₹10 lakh, where the account leaves the BSDA structure and the broker’s regular AMC applies.
The practical consequence is blunt. Hold a single demat account and keep holdings under ₹4 lakh, and your AMC is nil at every SEBI-regulated broker regardless of what that broker’s rate card says. A broker publishing ₹300 plus GST for non-BSDA accounts, or ₹25 plus GST per month for everyone, is still bound by the cap, because the cap is not the broker’s to set. An account that looks like the most expensive row in a table can cost nothing at all to hold.
Two conditions keep the benefit. Holdings must stay under the ceiling, and you must be the sole or first holder of exactly one demat account across both depositories. A second account anywhere, even an empty one, ends the eligibility. Since 31 March 2026, suspended, delisted and Zero Coupon Zero Principal securities are not counted toward the threshold, so a suspended holding no longer pushes a small portfolio out of the nil tier by itself.
Two details decide real bills. The BSDA caps the annual maintenance charge and nothing else, so brokerage, DP charges and statutory levies carry on unchanged. And the ₹4 lakh test runs on holdings value rather than on activity, so a frequent trader with a small portfolio keeps the nil AMC while a patient investor sitting on ₹5 lakh of shares pays up to ₹100 plus GST, which is ₹118 a year.
Three profiles, priced line by line
Each profile states its assumptions first so you can replace them with your own numbers. Every figure comes from Upstox’s published rate card and the statutory rates listed above, both read on 16 September 2026. All three assume one account, holdings under ₹4 lakh, and therefore a nil AMC. Amounts are shown to the paisa as they fall out of the arithmetic, and rounding differences of a rupee are just that.
Profile one: a light long-term investor
Six delivery buys of ₹15,000 each, one delivery sell of ₹20,000, and one scrip in that sale. Holdings sit under ₹4 lakh, so the account is a BSDA and the AMC is nil. Nothing here is unusual: roughly one purchase every two months, and one sale in the year.
| Line | Working | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Brokerage on the buys | 6 orders × ₹20 flat | ₹120.00 |
| Brokerage on the sell | 1 order × ₹20 flat | ₹20.00 |
| GST on brokerage | 18% of ₹140.00 | ₹25.20 |
| DP charge | 1 scrip sold, 1 day | ₹20.00 |
| GST on the DP charge | 18% of ₹20.00 | ₹3.60 |
| STT on the buys | 0.1% of ₹90,000 | ₹90.00 |
| Stamp duty on the buys | 0.015% of ₹90,000 | ₹13.50 |
| STT on the sell | 0.1% of ₹20,000 | ₹20.00 |
| NSE transaction charges | 0.00307% of ₹1,10,000 | ₹3.38 |
| SEBI turnover fee | ₹10 per crore of ₹1,10,000 | ₹0.11 |
| GST on exchange and SEBI lines | 18% of ₹3.49 | ₹0.63 |
| AMC for the year | BSDA, holdings under ₹4 lakh | ₹0.00 |
| Total | ₹316.42 |
The year costs ₹316.42. Statutory charges are the largest layer, and within them STT alone accounts for ₹110 of the ₹127.62, being ₹90 on the buys and ₹20 on the sell. Brokerage across all seven orders is ₹140. The holding cost is nothing, and the DP charge is a single ₹23.60 line because only one scrip left the account.
Profile two: a monthly SIP investor who sells occasionally
Twelve monthly SIP instalments of ₹5,000 into direct mutual funds, four delivery buys of ₹10,000, and three delivery sells of ₹25,000 each, with each sale touching three different scrips on its own day. The mutual fund leg carries no commission, so ₹60,000 of SIPs adds nothing to the bill. Holdings, including the fund units, stay under ₹4 lakh.
| Line | Working | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| SIP commission | 12 instalments, direct plans | ₹0.00 |
| Brokerage, 4 buys and 3 sells | 7 orders × ₹20 flat | ₹140.00 |
| GST on brokerage | 18% of ₹140.00 | ₹25.20 |
| DP charges | 9 scrip-days × ₹20.00 | ₹180.00 |
| GST on the DP charges | 18% of ₹180.00 | ₹32.40 |
| STT on the buys | 0.1% of ₹40,000 | ₹40.00 |
| Stamp duty on the buys | 0.015% of ₹40,000 | ₹6.00 |
| STT on the sells | 0.1% of ₹75,000 | ₹75.00 |
| NSE transaction charges | 0.00307% of ₹1,15,000 | ₹3.53 |
| SEBI turnover fee | ₹10 per crore of ₹1,15,000 | ₹0.12 |
| GST on exchange and SEBI lines | 18% of ₹3.65 | ₹0.66 |
| AMC for the year | BSDA, holdings under ₹4 lakh | ₹0.00 |
| Total | ₹502.91 |
The year costs ₹502.91. The DP line is now the second largest item at ₹212.40, because three sales across three scrips each means nine scrip-days, and nine is the number that matters rather than the value of the shares sold. Notice what did not change: the SIP instalments contributed nothing, and brokerage is the same ₹140 as profile one despite the extra activity, because every order meets the same ₹20 ceiling.
Profile three: an active trader
192 intraday round trips over the year, which is 384 executed orders at an average order value of ₹50,000, giving ₹1.92 crore of intraday turnover. Alongside that, ten delivery buys of ₹20,000 and six delivery sells of ₹20,000, each sale touching two scrips on its own day. Holdings stay under ₹4 lakh, so the AMC stays nil.
| Line | Working | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Intraday brokerage | 384 orders × ₹20 flat | ₹7,680.00 |
| Delivery brokerage | 16 orders × ₹20 flat | ₹320.00 |
| GST on brokerage | 18% of ₹8,000.00 | ₹1,440.00 |
| DP charges | 12 scrip-days × ₹20.00 | ₹240.00 |
| GST on the DP charges | 18% of ₹240.00 | ₹43.20 |
| STT on intraday sells | 0.025% of ₹96,00,000 | ₹2,400.00 |
| Stamp duty on intraday buys | 0.003% of ₹96,00,000 | ₹288.00 |
| STT on delivery buys | 0.1% of ₹2,00,000 | ₹200.00 |
| Stamp duty on delivery buys | 0.015% of ₹2,00,000 | ₹30.00 |
| STT on delivery sells | 0.1% of ₹1,20,000 | ₹120.00 |
| NSE transaction charges | 0.00307% of ₹1,95,20,000 | ₹599.26 |
| SEBI turnover fee | ₹10 per crore of ₹1.952 crore | ₹19.52 |
| GST on exchange and SEBI lines | 18% of ₹618.78 | ₹111.38 |
| AMC for the year | BSDA, holdings under ₹4 lakh | ₹0.00 |
| Total | ₹13,491.36 |
The year costs ₹13,491.36, and the shape of the bill has changed completely. Statutory charges are ₹3,768.16. Brokerage is ₹8,000 before tax. The DP line of ₹283.20, which dominated profile two, has become almost irrelevant. On the intraday side the flat ₹20 wins every time, since 0.1% of a ₹50,000 order would be ₹50, so doubling the order size halves the effective rate without changing the fee.
What actually moves the yearly number
Ranked by how much they move a real bill, from most to least, the drivers are not the ones broker advertising spends its money on.
- Sell events, and scrips per sale. The DP charge is per scrip, per day, so the count of scrips you sold across the year is the largest single variable for most investors. One scrip-day costs ₹23.60, nine cost ₹212.40, twelve cost ₹283.20. No rate-card change offsets a difference of that size.
- The AMC tier, once it applies. Nil under ₹4 lakh, up to ₹100 plus GST from ₹4 lakh to ₹10 lakh, and the broker’s regular AMC above that. At ₹300 plus GST the regular tier is ₹354 a year, which is more than profile one’s entire bill for the same twelve months.
- The brokerage model. Flat caps reward large orders, percentages reward small orders, and subscription plans move the cost to a fixed fee. On delivery orders the spread between the models is small in absolute terms because all of them are capped low. It matters far more on intraday trading, where the number of orders multiplies whatever rate you pay.
- Statutory charges, last. They are identical at every broker, so they cannot be optimised by choosing a different one. They fall only when the value you trade falls, and the STT bill on a delivery portfolio is proportional to what you sell.
The ranking has one practical use. Before comparing two brokers, count your sell events for a year and the scrips in each. If that number is small, the AMC tier decides your bill and the brokerage rows are noise. If it is large, compare brokerage and transaction charges closely, because the DP line has stopped mattering and the percentage rates have started to.
Where the surprises hide
A ₹0 AMC account costs nothing to hold
It removes the yearly fee, not the per-sale fee. Upstox charges ₹20 plus GST for every scrip you sell out of the demat, from the first sale, on an account with a nil AMC. Twelve scrip-days of selling in a year costs ₹283.20, which is close to the annual charge the account does not levy.
An account I never trade costs me nothing
At Upstox a non-BSDA account pays ₹300 plus GST from year two whether or not a single order is placed, collected in instalments. A BSDA account under ₹4 lakh of holdings has a nil AMC instead. Dormancy is not itself a fee, but it is not an exemption either.
Brokerage is capped at ₹20 wherever I trade
The cap is one broker’s published rate, not a market-wide rule. Groww publishes a 1% charge with no maximum on orders funded from a UPI mandate balance, so a ₹50,000 order can carry ₹500 of brokerage. Read the row for the funding route you actually use.
Paying late only costs what I owe
Delayed payment interest runs on the outstanding amount and is priced per day or per month. Groww publishes 0.05% per day inclusive of GST, FYERS 0.041% per day, and Angel One 1.5% per month levied every 15 days. It is the most expensive line in this article, and it is entirely avoidable by keeping the trading account funded.
Yearly AMC, broker by broker
The AMC is the only charge in this article that recurs without a transaction attached, so it deserves its own comparison. The column below shows the year-two figure each broker publishes, read from their own pricing pages on 16 September 2026. Where a broker does not publish a year-two amount, the cell says so rather than guessing.
| Broker | AMC from year two, as published |
|---|---|
| Upstox | ₹300 + GST (non-BSDA) |
| Zerodha | ₹300 + 18% GST per year (non-BSDA) |
| Groww | ₹0 |
| Angel One | ₹60 + GST per quarter (non-BSDA) |
| ICICI Direct | Std ₹700 + taxes · iVALUE ₹300 + GST |
| HDFC Sky | ₹20 per month (₹240 per year) |
| Kotak Securities (Kotak Neo) | Not published |
| 5paisa | Not published |
| Paytm Money | ₹0 |
| FYERS | ₹0 |
| Share.Market (PhonePe Wealth Broking Private Ltd, PPWB) | Nil |
| ProStocks | ₹0 |
| TradeSmart Online | ₹300 + GST (demat AMC) |
| Axis Direct (Axis Securities Limited) | ₹750 + GST (all customers) |
Read the column with the BSDA section in mind. Several of these figures apply only to non-BSDA accounts, and a ₹0 row often means the broker publishes no slab table at all, which is a gap rather than a promise. Upstox, for example, publishes ₹300 plus GST for non-BSDA accounts alongside a separate slab table that sets the figure to nil under ₹4 lakh of holdings. A cell reading Not published means the broker does not publish it on the page we read.
Questions people ask
It depends far more on how often you sell than on which broker you use. The three profiles priced on this page come to ₹316.42, ₹502.91 and ₹13,491.36 for the year. The first two are quiet years for a single account holding under ₹4 lakh, where the AMC is nil. The third trades intraday most days and pays statutory charges, not brokerage, for the privilege.
Free usually describes the opening fee, and sometimes the first year of AMC. It never describes the per-sale DP charge, which applies from your first sale even on an account with no annual fee, and it never describes STT, stamp duty, exchange charges or GST, which apply on every trade at every broker. The honest test is a year of your own trade count, not the headline on the pricing page.
At Upstox, a non-BSDA account pays ₹300 plus GST from year two whether or not a single order is placed, collected in instalments, so a dormant account is not a free account. A BSDA account with holdings under ₹4 lakh has a nil AMC and stays nil while the holdings stay under the ceiling. Angel One takes a different route on its published schedule, charging the quarterly AMC only after your first trade in that quarter.
There is nothing to negotiate at a discount broker, because the AMC is a published schedule applied uniformly rather than a price set per customer. The lever that works is structural: the BSDA caps the charge at nil under ₹4 lakh of holdings and at ₹100 plus GST up to ₹10 lakh, and that cap binds the broker whether or not the broker advertises it. Holding one account rather than two keeps you eligible.
The tagging is automatic for eligible accounts under SEBI rules in force since 1 September 2024, and brokers reassess holdings value rather than waiting for a request. Eligibility needs holdings under the ceiling and a single demat account across both depositories, where you are the sole or first holder. The account type is printed on your consolidated account statement, which is the quickest way to confirm which side of the line you are on.
A single account, holdings under ₹4 lakh, one or two sales in the year with few scrips in each, and no leverage. That year costs a few hundred rupees in total, and nearly all of it is statutory. Add leverage, add sell events, or add a second account and the yearly number moves by multiples rather than by percentages.
Sources
- Upstox. “Brokerage charges.” The rate card used for every fee and statutory figure on this page. Accessed 16 September 2026.
- Zerodha Broking Ltd. “Charges: equity, F&O, currency and commodity.” Accessed 16 September 2026.
- Groww. “Pricing.” Accessed 16 September 2026.
- Angel One. “Pricing and brokerage charges.” Accessed 16 September 2026.
- HDFC Sky. “Pricing.” Accessed 16 September 2026.
- SEBI. “Circular SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD1/P/CIR/2024/91: Facility for Basic Services Demat Account,” dated 28 June 2024, in force since 1 September 2024. Accessed 16 September 2026.