Best Demat Account in India

A Depository Participant (DP) is an agent appointed by the Depository who is authorized to offer depository services to all investors. They are the intermediaries between the depository and the investors. An investor cannot directly open a DEMAT account with the depository. The DP opens the account with the Depository and takes up the responsibility of maintaining the account and updating them as per the instructions are given by the investor from time to time.

Here are the steps to open a demat account:

1. Select your DP: DPs can be banks, brokers or financial service providers. Select your DP, preferably the stock broker with which you have a trading account, so all your trading transactions will be seamless.
2. Fill out and submit account opening form, KYC form, and Documents: Fill out and submit the form given to you for opening an account, the KYC form, passport size photographs, your PAN card (Permanent Account Number), and other photocopied documents. The documents required to open a demat account include proof of address and proof of identity. Also, you need to give the name of a person as your nominee.
• Proof of Identity Documents:
  • Voter’s identity card
  • Income tax returns
  • Bank attestation
  • Electricity bill
  • Passport
  • Driving license
  • PAN card
  • Identity card issued by central or state govt., professional bodies like the Bar Council, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and Institute of Cost Accountants of India or by public sector undertakings, regulatory or scheduled authorities, public financial institutions, university-affiliated colleges, or scheduled commercial banks.
• Proof of Address Documents:
  • Ration card
  • Leave and license agreement
  • Verified copies of the electricity bill
  • Bank statement or passbook
  • Driving License
  • Residential telephone bill
3. In-Person Verification (IPV): In-person verification (IPV) is conducted by a person from your DP’s firm to find out the existence of the customer by meeting in-person and verifying identity and address proof with original and to ensure that the details provided by you in the form are authentic. This can be done over your pc by video meeting/conferencing with the help of internet and web camera. Before the IPV starts, make sure you have your address proof and PAN card ready to show.
4. Get Beneficiary Owner Identity (BOID): Once your application has been processed and your DP has facilitated the opening of your account, they will give you a Beneficiary Owner Identity (BOID) – a unique account number – that you can use during future transactions and access your account.

Your unique DP Id is a 16 digit alpha-numeric or just numeric number. For the CDSL depository account, all 16 digits are numbers.

For NDSL depository account, the first 2 digits are alpha and the next 14 digits are numbers.

Now, the first 8 digits represent your Demat service provider called DP. It will be the same for all the clients of that broker.

Next 8 digits represent your individual Demat account number with your Demat service provider which is also called beneficiary ID. It will be unique to you.

Zerodha, India’s number one discount brokerage offers the best Demat account in India. The broker charges Rs. 0 account opening fee and charges Rs. 300 Demat AMC fee on a quarterly basis.

Zerodha Demat Account Opening Benefits:

• Single account to keep all shares, securities, and mutual funds in dematerialized form.
• Easy, fast, and convenient Kite web and app trading platform.
• Free delivery trading or investment in shares.
• 20 flat brokerage on equity intraday, F&O, commodity, and currency.
• Zerodha Varsity, a free stock market education platform for beginners to expert level traders.
• Free direct mutual fund investment on Zerodha Coin platform.
• Zerodha console reporting dashboard to get all the reports like transaction report, P&L report, etc.

Groww and Paytm Money offers the cheapest Demat account opening services. Both the broker neither charges any Demat account opening fee nor charges Demat account AMC fee from clients. Paytm Money also has the cheapest brokerage model offering free delivery trading and flat Rs. 10 per order brokerage on intraday and equity F&O trades whereas Groww offers Rs. 20 per order pricing plan. Paytm Money charges Rs. 300 platform fee from customers.

If you are an equity trader then you can consider these two discount brokers to open a Demat account, however, both the brokerage firms do not offer commodity and currency trading services.

Zerodha and Upstox are the two most poular Demat account in India. You can open a free Demat account with any of these recommended brokers and start online trading in equity, F&O, commodity, and currency segments. Zerodha offers free delivery trading and charges Max Rs. 20 brokerage in other segments and similarly, Upstox also provide Rs. 20 brokerage model. Kite is the mobile trading platform by Zerodha that is available in 10+ languages whereas Upstox offers Pro app that offers superior charting, multi-exchange trading, unlimited customizable watchlist, and real-time stock market price data.

A Demat account provides digital safety where you can hold shares, mutual funds, debentures and bonds in an electronic form. Before trying hands on stock market trading, you must open a Demat Account with your choice of broker to keep shares, mutual funds, and other securities in dematerialized form.

A Demat account requires users to open a following list of documents for verification purpose;

• PAN Card as an ID Proof.
• Passport size photograph.
• Applicant’s signature.
• Address proof.
• Bank Account proof

If you are a beginner and looking to start trading and investment then, here are the top brokers who offer the best Demat account opening services to customers.

1. Zerodha Demat Account
2. Upstox Demat Account
3. 5paisa Demat Account
4. Groww Demat Account
5. Paytm Demat Account