The plain answer
You do not need a demat account to invest in most mutual funds. A regular fund order is recorded in a folio with the asset management company, and the units exist in the AMC's books, not in a depository. Your demat account becomes relevant in three specific cases: exchange-traded funds, funds bought in demat mode, and the convenience of seeing fund units alongside shares in one statement.
The confusion exists because brokers sell both, in the same app, through the same login. The account that holds your units depends on which kind of order you placed, not on which app you used. A SIP started on the same screen where you bought shares is still, by default, a folio transaction with the fund house.
This page separates the two plumbing routes so you can read your own statements correctly. It matters in practice: redemption mechanics differ, statement sources differ, and the demat route carries depository charges the folio route does not.
Folio versus demat
A folio is your file with the mutual fund house. When you buy a fund through a broker, the AMC opens or updates a folio in your name, and the AMC's registrar, commonly CAMS or KFintech, maintains it. Statements come from the AMC, redemptions pay into the bank account on record, and the folio number is your reference for that fund.
Demat-held units work differently. You buy them in demat mode, they are credited to your demat account under the scheme's ISIN, and the depository's statement lists them next to your shares. Crucially, redeeming demat-held units of an open-ended fund is still a redemption request with the AMC: the units debit from the demat account and the AMC pays your bank. You do not sell open-ended fund units on the exchange.
The exchange selling route applies only to listed securities: ETFs and listed funds such as closed-ended schemes. Those trade like shares precisely because they are listed. For a first-time investor the practical difference between folio and demat mode for open-ended funds is small: the same fund, the same NAV, the same day, held in a different ledger.
- You place a mutual fund order in the broker app
- Folio route: the AMC records units in your folio at the day’s NAV
- Demat route: units credit to your demat account under the scheme ISIN
- Folio redemption: the AMC pays your bank and cancels the units
- Demat redemption: units debit from the demat and the AMC pays your bank
- ETFs and listed funds: you sell on the exchange like shares
Who sends the statements
Statement flow follows the holding route. Folio units generate an account statement from the AMC or its registrar. SEBI's consolidated account statement rules, first introduced through the mutual fund regulations in 2011, require the AMCs to send a single statement covering all your folios across all fund houses, matched by PAN, every month in which a transaction happened.
Demat-held units generate a CAS from the depository. Since SEBI's December 2011 framework, NSDL and CDSL jointly issue the CAS that combines demat holdings and mutual fund folios for one PAN. The April 2021 enhancement widened it further: the CAS now covers all open-ended and close-ended schemes, ETFs, demat securities and demat-held units, issued monthly when there is activity and annually for every PAN-linked holding regardless of activity.
One practical consequence: demat-held fund units do not appear in the AMC's monthly CAS, because the depository already reports them. If you hold the same fund partly in folio and partly in demat mode, the units show in two different statements. Both are SEBI-regulated records; they are different ledgers, not competing copies of the same one.
| Question | Folio-held units | Demat-held units |
|---|---|---|
| Who records the units | The AMC and its registrar | The depository (NSDL or CDSL) |
| Where you see them | AMC statement and the combined CAS | Depository CAS, under the scheme ISIN |
| How you redeem | Redemption request, money to your bank | Redemption request, units debited from the demat, money to your bank |
| Depository charges | None on the fund itself | DP charge can apply when units leave the demat |
| Selling on the exchange | Not available for open-ended funds | Only for ETFs and listed funds |
What you pay
Through Upstox, mutual fund commission is ₹0 and SIPs start at ₹100 a month. The figures below were verified against broker pricing pages on 16 August 2026.
| Cost | Upstox | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Fund commission | ₹0 | No broker fee on mutual fund orders |
| SIP minimum | ₹100 / month | The floor for a monthly plan |
| Fund transfers | ₹0 | UPI and netbanking additions are free |
| Demat DP charges | Not on folio SIPs | Folio units never enter the demat, so no DP debit |
| Expense ratio | Set by the fund | Deducted inside the fund, not billed separately |
Two cost rules come from SEBI regulation rather than broker pricing. Entry loads, the upfront commission funds used to deduct, have been banned since 1 August 2009, so every rupee you invest buys units. Exit loads are capped at 1% of the redemption value and sit inside the fund, so they apply only when you redeem inside the scheme's exit window, not to every redemption.
The expense ratio is the cost most investors never see as a line item, because the fund deducts it inside the NAV before returns reach you. To make it concrete: a ₹1,00,000 holding in a plan charging 1.0% a year sees about ₹1,000 deducted inside the fund over the year; the same holding in a plan charging 0.5% sees about ₹500. The illustration is arithmetic, not a return forecast, and it explains why expense ratio differences compound over years.
Direct versus regular plans
Every scheme runs two plan series with separate NAVs: regular and direct. SEBI mandated direct plans from 1 January 2013 so investors could buy a fund without paying a distributor commission inside it. A direct plan's expense ratio excludes the distribution commission and trail fees that the regular plan carries. The portfolios are the same; the cost layer differs.
The published expense ratio gap between the two series of the same scheme is typically 0.3 to 1 percentage point a year, and commonly half to three quarters of a point for equity funds. The plan name on the order screen says "Direct" or "Regular", and a ₹0-commission broker can route you to either, so the zero on the brokerage line does not tell you which series you are buying. You have to check the order screen.
How an SIP records
An SIP is a standing instruction: the AMC's registrar pulls the amount from your bank account on the scheduled date, the fund allots units at that day's NAV, and the folio updates. Nothing in that chain needs a depository, which is why SIPs default to folio mode at every major broker and why most SIP investors have never thought about where their units sit.
The ₹100 floor at Upstox is a broker convenience, not a legal minimum, and it works because a folio can hold fractions of a unit to four decimal places. Orders received before the scheme's cut-off time on a working day get that day's closing NAV; orders after the cut-off roll to the next business day. The cut-off times differ by scheme type, so the app's "order by" notice is the source of truth.
Demat-mode SIPs exist where the broker supports them: each instalment credits units to the demat account under the scheme ISIN instead of updating a folio. The instalment amount behaves the same way; only the ledger changes. A missed SIP instalment costs nothing in itself, because SIPs carry no instalment penalty, but a failed bank mandate can pause the schedule, so the mandate is the part worth keeping funded.
When a demat account is actually required
- ETFs. Exchange-traded funds are bought and sold on the exchange like shares, so the units must sit in a demat account. There is no folio version of an ETF.
- Listed closed-ended funds. Closed-ended schemes list their units on the exchange, and those listed units settle into the demat like shares.
- Demat-mode purchases. If you choose demat mode on the order screen for an open-ended fund, the units credit to the demat account under the scheme ISIN instead of the folio.
- One statement for everything. Holding funds in demat puts shares, funds and bonds into a single depository CAS, which is why families often consolidate into one account as holdings grow.
- Pledging units as collateral. Demat-held units can be pledged against margin through the depository system; folio units sit outside that plumbing.
What people usually get wrong
You must open a demat account to start a SIP
Folio-based SIPs need no demat account. The demat is for shares, ETFs and demat-mode funds; the standard SIP runs through the AMC’s books regardless.
Funds in demat are safer than folio funds
Both are SEBI-regulated records. Folio units sit with the AMC’s registrar, demat units with the depository. Neither depends on your broker staying alive.
The demat route is always cheaper
Commission is ₹0 on both routes at discount brokers. The demat route can cost slightly more, because redeeming demat-held units is a demat debit that can carry a DP charge.
You can sell any demat-held fund on the exchange
Only listed securities trade on the exchange: ETFs and listed closed-ended funds. Demat-held open-ended units are redeemed with the AMC, not sold on the screen.
Questions people ask
No. The standard SIP runs through a folio with the asset management company, so no demat account is involved in recording the units. The demat account only enters the picture if you choose demat mode where your broker offers it, or when you buy ETFs and listed funds. Folio SIPs need a bank mandate, not a demat account.
Only the units you bought in demat mode appear there, under the scheme ISIN. Folio-based units never enter the demat ledger, so they show in the AMC statement and the combined CAS instead. The broker app often displays both routes side by side, which is the usual source of confusion.
Fund commission is the same on both routes, and at Upstox it is ₹0. The differences sit elsewhere: demat redemptions are a demat debit and can carry the DP charge, folio redemptions have no depository step, and direct versus regular plan selection moves your expense ratio far more than the route choice does.
The broker app view is a convenience display. The legal records are the AMC statement for folio holdings and the depository CAS for demat holdings, both consolidated by your PAN. When the two disagree, the registrar or depository record is the one that counts, not the app.
Yes. Where your broker supports it, you can raise a conversion request and the AMC moves the units into demat mode, after which they appear under the scheme ISIN in your demat account. Most investors do this to consolidate statements rather than for any economic advantage, because the units and the fund are identical either way.
No. Folio units never touch the depository, so they create no depository ledger and no DP debits. The AMC of the demat account applies to the demat account itself, which you maintain for shares and ETFs, entirely separate from your SIPs.
Sources
- Upstox. “Brokerage charges.” Accessed 16 August 2026.
- SEBI. “Circular on introduction of Direct Plan in mutual fund schemes, 13 September 2012.” Accessed 16 August 2026.
- SEBI. “Consolidated Account Statement framework under the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996.” Accessed 16 August 2026.
- NSDL. “Consolidated Account Statement (CAS).” Accessed 16 August 2026.