DP Charges

If you’re an investor, you must know about all the charges that you pay while trading. Many of them are obviously known to you but do you know there are some hidden charges that the investor does not pay much attention to? One such charge is the DP charges.

Now obviously as the name suggests, it is also known as Depository Participant Charges are imposed by the brokers and the respective depository, CDSL, and NSDL. 

These charges are imposed on the sell transactions done in your Demat account. 

Let’s now try to understand the above statement in detail. 

What are DP charges?

Before making you understand the DP charges, let’s have a look at the slip below. 

Wondering what it is? Well! Most of you might be wondering why we are talking about the bank fees.

Let’s make it clear now. Almost all of you have a savings account in one bank or the other and of course, we do multiple transactions in our bank account per month either to transfer money or to credit cash amounts. 

For every debit and credit of funds, the bank imposes certain charges called transaction charges. 

This fee is generally imposed for managing the electronic transfer of money. 

Now we all know that similar to the bank account the shares are kept in a digital form in our Demat account which gets credited and debited every time we buy or sell shares. 

To manage those electronic transactions, the depository, CDSL, and NSDL impose similar transaction fees called Depository Participant charges.  

Unlike the bank transaction, the DP charges are levied only on the sell transactions from your Demat account. 

DP Charges Full Form

As already discussed, DP charges are the Depository Participant Charges, charged per scrip.

The two depositories in India, CDSL and NSDL take the charge of managing the Demat account of the investor and hence charge a minimal fee to keep it active and to provide security to the shares held in your account.

Moreover, the DP charges are only charged for selling a particular scrip irrespective of the number of shares and the value of shares held.

So whether the shares you sell are ₹10000 or ₹1,00,000 or you sell 10 shares or 100 shares of a particular scrip the charges remain the same. 

After understanding the complete meaning of DP fees, now let’s grab an understanding of how these charges are calculated.

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How DP charges are Calculated?

Now DP charges, as already discussed, are charged by depositories on the sell transactions. 

Let us understand this with the help of an example,

Suppose, The DP charges are ₹10.5+GST and you have 100 shares of scrip XYZ and 100 shares of ABC scrip. 

Here, let’s understand the calculation of the charge using three different scenarios. 

In the first case, 

You sold 100 shares of XYZ on a particular day. But 50 shares are sold in the morning while the remaining 50 shares in the afternoon on the same day. Here, although you debited shares twice, the debit transaction charges would be charged once equal to ₹10.5+GST i.e. ₹12.39.

Now in the second case,  You sold shares of XYZ in fragments. 

So let’s say,

You sold 40 shares in the first month after buying

20 shares in the second month,
30 shares in the third month, and
The remaining 10 shares in the fourth month.

This fee would be charged each time you sell off the shares at different time frames. 

Thus the total fees imposed would be (10.5+10.5+10.5+10.5) i.e. ₹42 excluding GST

Let’s consider one more scenario, where you sell 50 shares of XYZ and 50 shares of ABC after a particular trading day.

Since the DP charges are imposed per scrip thus you have to pay a total of ₹21 excluding GST. 

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Which Broker Has Less DP Charges?

Although the DP charges are the fees imposed by the depositories, the broker registered with the respective depository comes up with their own fees plan. 

So here is a major concern. Most of the brokers charge zero fees for the delivery trade. Seeing the zero delivery trading charges is enough? Of Course not! Along with the brokerage fees, one must keep a check on the  DP fees imposed on the trade.  

Now, these charges are not displayed on the contract note and thus one remains unaware of the hidden fees deducted from their trading account. 

To keep you aware of the same, here we are with the list of best stock brokers offering the best services at the lowest DP charges. 

With no second thought, let us begin with our superstar, Zerodha.

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DP Charges in Zerodha

This first discount broker came into existence in the year 2010, making trading seamless and easy with its popular Zerodha Kite and other trading platforms. 

A bootstrapped company registered with CDSL, offering to trade in equity, currency as well as in commodity, that have competitive charges for Demat account. 

As per the brokerage plan, Zerodha does not impose any charges for delivery trade. But what about the DP charges?

Since the broker is the first in the list with the discount brokerage plan, so does it offer comparatively lowest Depository Participant charges equal to ₹13.5+GST.  

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DP Charges in Angel Broking 

Angel Broking is a full service broker, best suited for almost all levels of trader and investors, founded in the year 1987. Not just one, it is registered with both the depositories, CDSL and NSDL, offering you to trade in almost all segments. 

The best part is, being an old stockbroker, it offers you Free account opening, and not just that it facilitates zero account maintenance charge for the first year. Isn’t that Awesome? But what about Depository Participant charges? 

The DP charges of Angel Broking is ₹18.50+GST i.e. ₹21.83

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DP Charges in 5 paisa 

Here we bring yet another discount broker for you. 5paisa is a newbie in the stock market as it was founded in the year 2016. 

Although it has a long way to go to compete with the fundamentally strong brokers, 5paisa has managed to secure its place among popular brokers in India. 

When it comes to the Depository Participant charges in 5paisa it is one of the stockbrokers with the lowest DP charges in India as it charges the fees of ₹12.5+GST per scrip per day. 

So when taking Zerodha, Angel Broking, and 5paisa into consideration, for a similar kind of sell delivery trade, you end up paying the least debit transaction fees with a 5paisa demat account.  

With free demat account opening and almost free AMC, we can see a lower DP charge than others. With regular updates in its platforms and services, this broker is growing to be a reliable trade platform. 

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Want to trade at the minimal cost at the lowest charges, then get started now by opening a Demat account for FREE!

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DP Charges in  Motilal Oswal 

Motilal Oswal is a much older stockbroker to exist in the Indian Stock Market. It was founded in 1987, in the same year as that of Angel Broking. 

And it is also a full-service stockbroker. Offering various trade segments like equity, currency, commodities, etc as it has a membership of BSE, NSE, MCX, NCDEX. With a presence in about 500+ Indian cities, this broker has a vast offline presence along with online platforms. 

But not to miss with marvellous services, it is known to be one of the most expensive stockbrokers. So, quickly take a look at the charges detail. 

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DP charges in Upstox 

This discount broker came into the market at around the same time as that of Zerodha, in the year 2011. Yet not as popular as the latter. It offers you the same trading facilities as that of Zerodha, but do you think it has similar DP charges?  Let’s find out. 

Oops, Zerodha won the point here. Upstox has higher DP charges than that Zerodha, as you may see in the table below. 

 

Other than this the charges for both the stockbroker differ from each other. To grab complete comparative information of both the stockbrokers, you can check the review of Upstox vs Zerodha.

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DP Charges in Groww 

From a Mutual Investment Platform in 2016 to a popular Trading platform, this discount stockbroker started its stockbroking service during the pandemic in 2020. Where most companies fell apart and faced fiasco, Groww emerged as a shining star. 

Obviously not as famous and advanced as others in the list, this broker managed to attract millennials with its simple trading platform with low Demat account charges and thus contributed to the steep growth of the number of new Demat accounts last year. 

It is interesting that it levies similar charges as that of the leading stockbroker, Zerodha which is ₹13.5+GST per scrip.

Apart from this, the Groww demat account charges are nil and hence one can start their investment journey at the zero cost. 

 

Thus, for a newbie, it can be a perfect choice when you don’t have much capital to invest with less risk appetite.

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DP Charges in Paytm Money

After Groww, another emerging stockbroker is Paytm Money. The stockbroker is a SEBI registered advisory firm offering a completely online platform to its customers to trade seamlessly across segments.

No doubt, the Paytm Money brokerage charges are the least but what about the DP charges.

Well! when it comes to the DP charges, the broker is known for offering the least fees and only imposes ₹10+GST as debit transaction fees.

 

Although the charges are minimum but since it is new in the industry and therefore it becomes important for traders to analyze the broker deeply to assure reliability and sustainability.

It is good to the comparative analysis and understands different aspects and services offered by the broker.

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Sharekhan DP charges 

Founded in the year 2000, Sharekhan is a full-service stockbroker, registered with both CDSL and NSDL, with a membership of NSE, BSE, MCX, and NCDEX. 

With free account opening it does charge AMC as high as ₹500 per annum based on the initial margin. Now let’s check the detail of Demat transaction charges in Sharekhan

Look at the table below.

You may not be able to avoid DP charges but you can definitely choose to pay less! Undoubtedly, it is higher than many other brokers.

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IIFL DP Charges

IIFL is a full-service broker started in the year 1995. Despite being an older stockbroker, IIFL offers free Demat account opening with Free Demat AMC to its customers. 

Similar to Angel Broking, IIFL Securities too is the hybrid stockbroker, offering full-service brokerage services at a discounted rate. 

With smooth trading apps, it offers flexible services across segments of trading, which makes trading journeys smooth and easy.

Since we’re looking for compatible depository participants fees, certainly IIFL has reasonable prices for the kind of reliability and sustainability it exhibits, which is ₹25 per scrip.

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DP charges in ICICI

As the name suggests ICICI is a bank-based full-service stockbroker started in 2000. Although ICICI Securities started way back in 1995, Direct is the electronic brokerage platform launched by ICICI Securities. 

It is known that bank-based stockbrokers usually offer you a 3 in 1 account opening that integrates your trading account with the demat account along with a respective bank account. However, charges are slightly higher than that of any other independent brokers.

The table here shows DP charges of ICICI Direct.

This generally affects the profit margin of the small investors. Their major portion of the profit in the delivery trade is being deducted as the Debit transaction fees and other fees charged by the broker. 

This is often higher than any other discount broker. High Demat debit transaction fees create a huge impact on your overall earned profit.

It is therefore highly recommended to consider these hidden fees before choosing the stockbroker. 

Thus it is always ideal while looking at other parameters, you must always consider the depository participant charges. 

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HDFC DP Charges

Another top bank-based stockbroker, HDFC Securities started stockbroking services in 2000. Like many other bank-based brokers it is also a full-service stockbroker, offering research and advisory to its customers. 

In terms of reliability, it is hard to find anyone with trust issues with this particular broker, this, in turn, results in customer loyalty.

Just so you know, with a user-friendly trading interface it also offers call and trade facilities with a low brokerage. 

 

In terms of demat transaction fees, it is no different from other banks or full-service brokers. However, it does offer a free Demat account for the first year. 

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Kotak Securities DP charges 

Final in our list is Kotak Securities that was established in the year 1994, once again it is a full-service, bank-based stockbroker, with Kotak Mahindra Bank being its parent organization.

Like many, this also offers a 3 in 1 account facility that includes your Demat account, trading account, and bank account. 

Majorly it is one of the best brokers for intraday traders for it offers free intraday trading in its plan called Trade-Free plan. 

 

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Conclusion

From the above data, it is concluded that every broker comes up with their own debit transaction charges plan. So, along with services, brokerage, and other fees, one must look for the hidden fees to make wise decisions and to control their profit margin accordingly. 

Hope by now you must have understood the meaning of Debit transaction fees that it is levied by both brokers and the depositories on all your sale transactions. 

Happy Investing!

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