Zerodha with a unique name and meaning, Zero + rodha (Barrier in English) is emerging as the single largest discount broker in India. The reason Zerodha becoming the most popular broker is due to providing "the best online trading platform in India", "low brokerage and high exposure", "free direct mutual fund investment platform" and "efficient customer support."
In just a short span of time (9+ years) Zerodha top the list to become the number one share broker in India in terms of active clients. Zerodha offerings and support is growing day by day and the best in class.
The main investing activities offered by Zerodha are trading in equity, equity F&O, commodity, currency on NSE, BSE, MCX and MCX-SX and investment in Direct Mutual Funds through SIP and lump-sum, ETFs, Government securities, and bonds.
Zerodha offers free trading in equity delivery and charges a low brokerage of Rs 20 or .03% whichever is lower for trading in equity Intraday, F&O, currency, and commodity.
The Demat services provided are of being a DP of CDSL. Additionally, there is NRI trading facility at Rs 200 or .1% per order whichever is lower for equity delivery and Rs 100 per order for equity F&O.
This is the first broker in India to offer a Direct Mutual Fund investment facility to its customers for free. The scheme is offered by their online platform called "COIN" (coin.zerodha.com").
In this, you can invest in direct mutual fund schemes that give you better returns compared to regular mutual fund schemes.
Basically, there is no commission going to the brokerage house from your mutual fund investment.
You can instant open account with them with your Aadhar card. The benefits of 3-in-1 account is offered in tie-up with IDFC First bank in the form of Zerodha-IDFC FIRST Bank 3-in-1 account.
The modus operandi of the account – a single account inclusive of trading, DEMAT and bank account for seamless and hassle-free online banking and investing experience. It has now become the trading and self-clearing member to give clients the benefit of no clearing charges. Moreover, Zerodha provides cover order and bracket order (CO/BO) with trailing stop loss feature for equity and F&O.
Zerodha Reward programs like a 60-day challenge, refer a friend and Get an Affiliate link gives you an opportunity to get some rewards. You can have the most advanced and in-house trading platforms across desktop, web and mobile app of them.
Kite 3.0 is their in-house, state-of-art web-based trading platform also available in the mobile app.
PI is the advance feature-rich software-based trading platform of Zerodha.
They also offer third-party plug-in tools like Smallcase, Sensibull, Streak, StockReports+ for that extra support. These are the paid services though.
Investment options for Buyback, IPO, FPO and OFS (Offer for sale) are available online with Zerodha which is making Zerodha not only a broker but also as aFinTechCompany.
Zerodha offer customer support in all possible ways and efficiently. You can contact their team by the below mediums:
Compared to other discount brokers, there are 22 branch offices, 94 partner offices, and 6 Zerodha support + call & trade offices.
Below mentioned is Zerodha head office address:
Zerodha, #153/154,
4th Cross, J.P Nagar 4th Phase,
Opp. Clarence Public School,
Bengaluru - 560078
With high-class technology, unique trading tools, and three-way trading platform, Zerodha is giving its clients an edge in trading and decision making. Pioneer in introducing low brokerage scheme, Zerodha manages to satisfy both casual and active investors.
Free delivery Trading - Zero Brokerage, Direct Mutual Fund Investment on Zero Cost. Open Account online. 3-in-1 Account with IDFC Bank. Sign up now
Here we are comparing Zerodha with its 5 close competitors on investment options.
| Broker | Zerodha | Sharekhan | 5paisa | Upstox | SAMCO |
| Equity Trading Type | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Currency Trading | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Commodity Trading | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mutual Funds | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| MF SIP | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| ETF Investment | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Banking | No | No | No | No | No |
| Insurance | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
»» Trading Account Opening Charges: Online Rs 200 (T+D), Rs 300 (T+D+C). Offline Rs 400 (T+D), Rs 600 (T+D+C). T*Trading, D*Demat, C*Commodity
»» Trading Account AMC: Free
»» Demat Account Opening Charges: Free
»» Demat Account AMC: Rs 300 PA
As Zerodha started the new concept of discount share broking in the Indian share market, you can save 80 to 90% on brokerage with them.
Their brokerage rates are super cheap as compared to full-service brokers and very competitive among its nearby discount share brokers.
Zerodha entered in a new concept of brokers as a Free Broker by introducing Equity Delivery Trades @₹0 brokerages.
For Equity Intraday, F&O, Currency, and Commodity trading ₹20 or 0.01% whichever is lower, so you pay max ₹20 per trade.
Online low cost discount brokers like Zerodha’s ₹20 Plan is equal to Upstox (₹20), Fyers (₹20), SAMCO (₹20), 5paisa (₹20) while slightly more expensive than TradeSmart (₹15) and SASOnline (₹9). Find here Zerodha’s brokerage charges for various segments;
Find here Zerodha’s brokerage charges for various segments;
Let’s discuss in detail about the type of account offered by Zerodha.
Zerodha offers an online trading account to trade in stocks, derivatives, indices, and currencies on NSE and BSE. Trading can be done through the software-based platform, web based platform or a mobile application and Call & Trade option. All settlements on a Trading Account happens on T+1 day. There is no Annual Maintenance charges (AMC) for Trading Account. The account opening fees is ₹300.
You need a Demat Account only to trade in delivery based equity trading. The shares will show up in your Demat Account only on T+2 day. You don't need a Demat Account if you are trading in F&O whether you're an intraday trader or a positional (overnight) trader. Demat Account opening charges are ₹100 and AMC is ₹300.
You can only trade in Commodity Future on MCX exchange with Zerodha. There are no Annual Maintenance charges for your Commodity Account at Zerodha. Only futures trade on MCX and hence there is no need for a Demat Account for trading Commodities. Commodity Options have still not started in India. Account opening charges for commodity trading is ₹300.
Zerodha having tie-up with IDFC bank offer 3-in-1 Account. Zerodha IDFC Bank 3-in-1 account is a unique combination of IDFC Bank Savings Account, Zerodha Trading Account and Zerodha Demat Account for seamless fund transfer facility. If you already have IDFC bank account, then you can avail the benefits of 3-in-1 account by just linking it with your Zerodha trading and demat account.
Zerodha offers NRI Account that comprises of Zerodha NRI Trading Account, Zerodha NRI Demat Account and NRE or NRO savings Bank Account with Axis, Yes or HDFC bank linked to Zerodha NRI trading account. Zerodha NRI account lets NRIs trade in equity delivery and equity derivatives, invest in IPOs, Mutual Fund, bonds and securities. Zerodha charges NRI brokerage of ₹200 or 0.1% whichever is lower for equity delivery. Equity F&O is charged at Rs 100 per order.
For complete brokerage charges and trading plans detail please visit Zerodha Brokerage Charges.
Here we are comparing Zerodha with its 5 close competitors, who are currently market leader in brokerage industry.
| Broker | Zerodha | Sharekhan | 5paisa | Upstox | SAMCO |
| Service Type | Discount Broker | Full Service Broker | Discount Broker | Discount Broker | Discount Broker |
| Brokerage Range | Rs 20 | 0.1 to 0.5% | Rs 20 | Rs 20 | Rs 20 |
| Account Type | 2 in 1 | 2 in 1 | 2 in 1 | 2 in 1 | 2 in 1 |
| Equity Delivery | Free | 0.5% or 50 paisa | Flat Fee Rs 20 | Free | 0.2% or Rs 20 whichever is lower |
| Equity Intraday | 0.03% or Rs 20 whichever is lower | 0.1% or 10 paisa | Flat Fee Rs 20 | 0.05% or Rs 20 whichever is lower | 0.02% or Rs 20 whichever is lower |
| Equity Futures | 0.03% or Rs 20 whichever is lower | 0.1% or 10 paisa | Flat Fee Rs 20 | Flat Fee Rs 20 | 0.02% or Rs 20 whichever is lower |
| Equity Options | Flat Fee Rs 20 | 2.5% of Premium or Rs 250 per lot whichever is high | Flat Fee Rs 20 | Flat Fee Rs 20 | Flat Fee Rs 20 |
| Commodity | Flat Fee Rs 20 | 0.1% or 10 paisa | Flat Fee Rs 20 | Flat Fee Rs 20 | Flat Fee Rs 20 |
| Currency Futures | 0.03% or Rs 20 whichever is lower | 0.1% or 10 paisa | Flat Fee Rs 20 | Flat Fee Rs 20 | 0.02% or Rs 20 whichever is lower |
| Currency Options | Flat Fee Rs 20 | 2.5% of Premium or Rs 30 per lot whichever is high | Flat Fee Rs 20 | Flat Fee Rs 20 | Flat Fee Rs 20 |
| Rating |
Please refer unique and accurate Zerodha Brokerage Calculator
Zerodha offer leverage/margin through 3 different product types MIS, BO & CO.
NRML orders for equity f&o: exchange stipulated margin.
Note:
To open a Trading/Demat account with Zerodha, leave your contact information with us and we will guide you.
Zerodha has the most advanced, sleek and intuitive trading platforms for all types of customers. They have desktop-based trading software, web-based trading terminal and Mobile app for Android and iOS smartphones.
This is the advanced desktop trading software by Zerodha to minimize all the barriers in smooth trading. This is a downloadable version of trading software and needs admin access to setup on your windows machine. Zerodha PI has all the features one needs in a trading platform. It is available for free.
Further Reading: Detail Review of Zerodha PI
KITE 3.0 is a lightweight, low bandwidth, multi-language, Integrated, easy to use, Informational and committed web based and mobile app from Zerodha. Kite is an in-house developed product from Zerodha and has the most tech-focused mobile offering. We rated Kite as “the Best Trading App”.
Further Reading: Detail Review of Zerodha kite 3.0
Coin.zerodha.com is the web-based online mutual fund investment platform by Zerodha. It is a commission-free platform to invest in Direct Mutual Funds. Zerodha has launched a new Mobile App too for mutual fund investments called Coin Mobile. This app has full features to buy, sell funds of your choice. You can create, update or hold SIP as per your financial goals. It has direct mutual fund investment option from 31 AMC for 3000+ funds.
Limitation of Coin - You must have to transfer fund in your Mutual Fund account well in advance. So in case you have SIP plans, you must have to make sure fund is available in your Zerodha mutual fund account. You can do payment gateway transfer or set a recurring payment via your bank (NEFT/RTGS) to your Zerodha Mutual Fund account. Zerodha application doesn’t go directly to your bank account and withdraw the amount for your SIP. Where if you have ICICI Bank or HDFC Bank Mutual Fund SIP, they go directly to your bank account and withdraw the funds. This is a small limitation and can be handled by setting up a recurring payment option with your net banking.
Further Reading: Direct Mutual Fund Investment by Zerodha
It is a price alert tool from Zerodha to set alerts for 80,000+ stocks, bonds, commodities, F&O contracts, and currencies across exchanges on OHLC, bids, and offers, and more, in addition to the price. Advance alerts can also be created that combine multiple triggers using simple, easy-to-use operators. The alerts are sent on email and Kite web.
These are the products designed by third parties and has a tie-up with Zerodha to give access to their products and platforms to the users of Zerodha. These are paid services and can be integrated with Zerodha Kite platform.
Powered by Kite Connect APIs, smallcase is the thematic investment platform by Zerodha to let users invest in intelligently weighted baskets of stocks with a single click. A smallcase has a minimum of 2 and maximum of 50 securities. The securities are chosen based on ideas, themes or strategies in a specified weightage scheme. SIP facility is also available for smallcase thematic investment.
Streak is the web-based cloud server Algo-trading platform by Zerodha to create, backtest and deploy trading algorithms live in the market without coding. One can track the market real-time, actionable alerts and manage positions on the go.
Sensibull is the options trading platform, to choose from the suggested strategies or create your own custom strategies to trade your view. It also shows the comparison between various strategies to choose the best fit for you, visualize your trade’s profit and loss under various scenarios and allows to place orders using Zerodha Kite platform.
It is a comprehensive research and analysis report by Thomson Reuters on stocks, market, and industry. It covers stock analysis and rating on 3000+ Indian stocks, Industry rankings and ratings, industry and sectoral analysis and in-depth insights of over 1500 Indian companies.
For detail review of mobile app and download please visit Zerodha Trading Platform Review.
Here we are comparing Zerodha with its 5 close competitors on Trading Platform.
| Broker | Zerodha | Sharekhan | 5paisa | Upstox | SAMCO |
| Desktop Windows | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop Mac | No | No | No | No | No |
| Web Trading | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Android Tablet App | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Android Mobile App | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone App (iOS Mobile App) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| iPad App | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Mobile Site | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Zerodha is a well-respected share broker with a great offering. Zerodha has 1.2 + million [Dec 2019] satisfied customers leading it to India's one of the best discount share broker houses. Customer service is a top-notch and clients have access to well-known share brokerage platforms and tools. First time in India a brokerage house started Direct Mutual Funds investment. The strong management team gives you more confidence and support in trading. For those who want to take advantage of the latest technologies will find Zerodha to be a great fit.
6th Apr 2020: Change in lower side brokerage for the equity intraday and F&O trading. the plan has been revised from 0.01% or ₹20 (whichever is lower) to 0.03% or ₹20 (whichever is lower). So for big trades, its still no change in plan as Maximum brokergae will remain ₹20 only. For small trades, clients need to pay bit higher brokerage but logically this brokerage change don't have any major impact compare to competitors price.
18th Mar 2020: "Zerodha Call & Trade charges" and "Zerodha RMS Square off charges" updated from ₹20 to ₹50.
3rd Jan 2020: SEBI has introduced new margin policy for Intraday Margin. With the new changes SPAN + Exposure for F&O, and VaR + ELM for equity, has to be collected upfront before taking a trade. This is now compulsory for Intraday Trades (MIS, BO and CO).
16th Dec 2019: Same-day fund withdrawals – From 16th Dec 2019 onwards, NEFT facility is available 24X7, all week days. With that funds withdraw from your Zerodha account to your bank account on the same day, any day of the week. Previously you must have to wait for bank holidays and weekend.
9th Dec 2019: Change in Account opening charges effective from 9th Dec 2019 4:45 PM. New account opening charges – For Online Trading and Demat (T&D) Account – Rs 200, Trading, Demat and Commodity Account – Rs 300. For Offline account Trading and Demat (T&D) Account – Rs 400, Trading, Demat and Commodity Account – Rs 600.
16th Sep 2019: For your Mutual Fund SIP, Zerodha started recurring fund transfer facility. You can set up this process via Net Banking or Debit Card transaction. The feature is named as "e-Mandate".
5th Aug 2019: You can apply online IPO with Zerodha Consol. With recent change in IPO application, now you need to use UPI mode of payment for IPO application. You can apply online in IPO with Zerodha back office application “consol”.
22nd Mar 2019: Zerodha moving from 3rd party clearing member to self-clearing member under Zerodha Broking Ltd, with that no professional clearing Member(PCM) charges will be charged on futures and options premium. Exchange transaction charges for Futures will be Rs 190 per Cr and Option premium is Rs 5000 per Cr, which was Rs 210 per Cr and 5200 per Cr previously.
23rd Feb 2019: Second level authentication on Zerodha Kite is with 6 digit pin. Previously it was with a personal question based, now it will be more faster to log in on Kite.
Jan 2019: Zerodha started offering a 3-in-1 account with IDFC First Bank.
Jan 2019: Zerodha broke the barrier and become the number one share broker in India in terms of Active Clients. Zerodha started its operation in Aug 2010, and become the number one broker in India in just 8 years.
16th Oct 2018: Investment option open to investing in Government Securities (Bonds and T-bills) by retail Investors through Zerodha Coin.
19th Sep 2018: To open a Commodity account, you need to open a trading + commodity account. Now you can’t open only Commodity Account. This is to make all internal system work more effectively and give you a single view of your portfolio.
12th Sep 2018: Zerodha announces its collaboration with Thomson Reuters for advance research reports named StockReports+. Even though this service is paid service, but the price tie-up between Zerodha and Thomson Return is a really amazing deal for Indian Investor. Available in 3 easy plan Rs 150 PM, Rs 850 - 6 Months and Rs 1440 Yearly plan.
24th Aug 2018: Investment in Direct Mutual Fund with Zerodha is completely FREE. Previously Zerodha was charging Rs 50 PM for investment above Rs 25,000. Now they make this completely free for Zerodha clients.
28th July 2018: ELSS (Tax Saving Direct Mutual Funds) are free to invest. Zerodha was charging Rs 50 PM if your MF investment is more than 25,000 Rs. With new changes, you can invest in ELSS for free even though your investment goes above 25,000 Rs.
24th July 2018: 3rd Party Demat accounts linking with Zerodha Trading account are not accepted. This is because of the accountability point of view. With this, Zerodha will accept only Zerodha Demat account. If you have any Demat account with any other service provider, you need to move to Zerodha Demat service.
If you like what you have read and want to open an trading and demat account with Zerodha, leave your contact information with us and we will guide you.
Last updated on 2020-07-01
If you deal in equity delivery based trades, then nil fees are applicable to your trading i.e FREE Equity Delivery Trade. However, if you start trading in equity intraday, F&O, Currency and Commodities, then you have to pay 0.03% or Rs.20 – the lowest amount will be applicable. In such case, your brokerage will be maximum Rs 20.
Yes. The buying and selling of mutual funds are available on Zerodha’s platform. This activity can be performed, without any cost, with the assistance of Coin, an in-house built mutual fund investment platform from the Zerodha.
The key benefit of Zerodha Coin is it offers only Direct Mutual Funds, so you don't have to pay any commission to broker or middle man. Expense ratio for direct mutual funds is always low in comparison to regular funds. With that, you will have more profit on your investment.
On this platform, you can trade only mutual funds and not any other asset class. You can choose from a number of mutual fund houses like ICICI Prudential, AXA, and HSBC, etc.
Yes, anybody from your family and friends group can join Zerodha. All you have to do is to provide vital information such as name, email ID and mobile number of the person to be contacted in the Console option. Then, one of the sales managers will call that referral and help them in opening an account with Zerodha. You will get rewards for this activity if the referred person comes on board.
Smallcase Zerodha is a 3rd party platform offered by Zerodha to their clients to invest in ideas or themes. Smallcase is an investment product that consists of several stocks from a particular theme, users are allowed to choose the particular theme of their interest and undertake investment in several stocks.
There is a facility provided by which you can easily change your bank account with Zerodha. You can change your Primary Bank account or add secondary bank account with your Zerodha Trading Account. Fund withdrawal will perform always with your Primary Bank Account. However, this activity is not free; you have to pay Rs 25 + GST for the required modification.
You have to present the following documents for this:
Note: Points 2 & 3 have to be self-attested.
You can download the bank modification form from here: >> Link
Open Instant Account with Zerodha
would suggest improvement in leverage for weekly F& O positions atleast 3 -4 times. and margin against investments held,
Ratings:
Brokerage - Above Average
Account Maintenance Fees - Above Average
Website Usability - Excellent
Customer Service - Average
Overall Experience - Above Average