Comparison of Brokers in India

A comprehensive report on major brokers (BSE and NSE) comparing details such as demat account opening fees, brokerage charges, annual maintenance charges, supported browsers, features etc. Subscribing to a broker requires a PAN number. Details of how to acquire your PAN number are listed at the end of this report.

Support for browsers other than Internet Explorer 6.0 is gradually improving. Since the time this article was first written, a few brokerage houses have added support for other browsers, such as, Netscape, Firefox and Opera.

Angel Broking

• Account Opening Charge (AOC): Rs 775
• Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC): First year free. Rs 300 second year on.
• Brokerage: 50p (delivery‡), 10p intra-day, Rate negotiable for bulk orders.
• Browsers: IE 6.0+
• Interface: Online and branch.

AOC
AMC
Brokerage
Browsers
Interface

Canmoney

• Account Opening Charge (AOC): Nil
• Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC): First year free. Rs 200 second year onwards.
• Brokerage: 0.35% (delivery‡). Purchase - NIL Sale - 0.05% (intra-day) (Min Rs 20; Max Rs 500).
• Browsers: IE 5.5+
• Interface: Online and branch.

AOC
AMC
Brokerage
Browsers
Interface

Geojit BNP Paribas

• Account Opening Charge (AOC): Rs 650
• Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC): Rs 300
• Brokerage: 0.30% (delivery‡). 0.03% (intra-day)
• Browsers: IE 6.0+
• Interface: Online and branch.

AOC
AMC
Brokerage
Browsers
Interface

HDFC Securities

• Account Opening Charge (AOC): Rs 799
• Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC): First year free. Rs 561 second year onwards.
• Brokerage: Higher of Rs 25 or 0.5% of transaction value (delivery).
  Higher of Rs 20 or 0.1% of transaction value (intra-day).
• Browsers: IE 5.0+, NN 8.1+ and FF 1.5+
• Interface: Online, phone and branch.

AOC
AMC
Brokerage
Browsers
Interface

ICICI Direct

• Account Opening Charge (AOC): Rs 975
• Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC): First year free; Second year on Rs 500 (paper statements), Rs 450 (email statements)
• Brokerage: Higher of Rs 25 or 0.75% (delivery).
  Higher of Rs 15 or 0.05% of transaction value (intra-day).
• Browsers: IE 5.5+ , NN 4.7 and FF 2.0+
• Interface: Online, phone and branch.

AOC
AMC
Brokerage
Browsers
Interface

India Infoline

• Account Opening Charge (AOC): Rs 555 (waived off for employees of MNCs†)
• Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC): Rs 280
• Brokerage: 50p (delivery). 10p (intra-day).
• Browsers: IE 4.0+
• Interface: Online and branch.

AOC
AMC
Brokerage
Browsers
Interface

Kotak Securities

• Account Opening Charge (AOC): Rs 750 (Rs 250 credited in new account) (waived off for employees of MNCs†)
• Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC): Rs 404.52
• Brokerage: Higher of Rs 22 or 0.04% of securities sold, no charge on purchase (delivery). 0.06% (intra-day).
• Browsers: IE 6.0+
• Interface: Online and branch.

AOC
AMC
Brokerage
Browsers
Interface

Reliance Money

• Account Opening Charge (AOC): Rs 750 (waived off for employees of MNCs†)
• Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC): Rs 200
• Brokerage: 1p (delivery and intra-day‡).
• Browsers: IE 6.0+
• Interface: Online, phone and branch.

AOC
AMC
Brokerage
Browsers
Interface

Religare

• Account Opening Charge (AOC): Rs 500
• Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC): Rs 250
• Brokerage: 30p (delivery‡). 6p (intra-day) 6p (futures).
• Browsers: IE 5.5+
• Interface: Online and branch.

AOC
AMC
Brokerage
Browsers
Interface

Sharekhan

• Account Opening Charge (AOC): Rs 750 Online, (Rs 500 Offline, plus Rs 160 franking charge)
• Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC): First year free. Rs 300 second year onwards.
• Brokerage: Higher of 0.5% or 10 paise/share (delivery). Higher of 0.1% or 5 paise/share (intra-day).
• Browsers: IE 6.0+ and Opera 7.0+
• Interface: Online and branch.

AOC
AMC
Brokerage
Browsers
Interface

† Limited to certain multi-national corporations.
‡ Per transaction (buy/sell).

Broker charges
Find out how much brokers charge for delivery and intra-day trades. The brokerage calculator allows you to assess cost of trade involved with each broker compared above. Remember, trades may incur additional charges such as 'securities transaction tax', 'educational cess' etc.

While making a decision some consideration must also be given to the payment gateways used by brokers. A payment gateway is (in most cases) a bank that allows its account holders to transfer funds to their brokers for investing/trading. So, before you make a decision check whether your bank is the authorised gateway for the broker.