HDFC Demat Account Charges vs Zerodha Brokerage Charges

HDFC Securities is a full-service broker that offers retail and institutional broking services with higher brokerage fee. You can also avail the benefit from other value added products including Loan products, Insurance, NPS, Investment Advisory, and Portfolio management services. 

Whereas Zerodha is a discount broker that allows you to trade or invest in stocks only. Zerodha offers discounted brokerage fees because Zerodha does not provide you with stock investment tips, research, or Robo advisory services.

Let’s compare HDFC Demat account charges vs Zerodha. 

Quick Comparison of HDFC Securities Charges vs Zerodha 

Particulars	HDFC Securities Charges	Zerodha Charges
Account opening charges	Free	Rs 200+ Rs 100 for Commodity (optional)
Demat AMC Fees	Free for first yearRs. 750 (from 2nd Year onwards)	Rs. 300
Brokerage Charges	HDFC Securities (Standard plan)	Zerodha Plan
Equity Delivery	0.50% or min Rs.25	0 (Free)
Equity Intraday	0.05% or min Rs.25	0.03% or Rs. 20 per executed order whichever is lower
Equity Futures	0.025% or min Rs.25	0.03% or Rs. 20 per executed order whichever is lower
Equity Options	Higher of 1% of the premium amount or Rs.100 per lot	Rs. 20 per executed order
Currency Futures	Rs 23 per contract	0.03% or Rs. 20 per executed order whichever is lower
Currency Options	Rs 20 per contract	Rs. 20 per executed order
Commodity Futures	0.020% or minimum Rs.20 per order	0.03% or Rs. 20 per executed order whichever is lower
Commodity Options	Rs.100 per lot	Rs. 20 per executed order
Call & Trade Charges	Free	Rs. 50 per order

HDFC Demat Account Charges vs Zerodha 

#1. Account Opening Charges

HDFC Securities offers a free Demat & trading account whereas Zerodha charges Rs. 200 for an online account opening. However, you need to pay Rs. 100 more to open a commodity trading account with Zerodha. Commodity trading is optional in Zerodha.

	HDFC Securities	Zerodha
Account Opening Charges	Zero (Free)	Rs 200 (equity only) Rs 300 (with commodity account)

If you want to open your account offline, Zerodha charges Rs. 400 for an equity trading and Demat account, and Rs. 200 for a commodity trading account. However, HDFC provides the option to open an offline account for free.

Winner – HDFC Securities

#2. Annual Maintenance Charges (AMC)

Zerodha charges Rs 300 annually (Rs. 75 quarterly) for demat account AMC charges, on the other hand, HDFC Securities charges Rs 750 which is waived off for the first year.

AMC Fee	HDFC Securities	Zerodha
Trading AMC Fee	Zero	Zero
Demat AMC Fee	Free for the first year Rs. 750 (from 2nd Year onwards)	Rs. 75 per quarter (Rs. 300 annually)

Winner – Zerodha is the clear winner because Zerodha charges Rs 200 for account opening, which is a one-time cost. 

Conversely, you need to pay an additional annual cost of Rs. 450 to maintain your account compared to Zerodha.

HDFC Securities Vs Zerodha Brokerage Charges

Zerodha has only one plan that offers zero brokerage charges on equity delivery and 0.03% or Rs. 20 per executed order whichever is lower for intraday trading.

On the other hand, HDFC Securities (detailed review) offers standard and value plans with different brokerage charges to its customers.

#1. HDFC Securities (Standard Brokerage Plan) Vs Zerodha (Flat Brokerage Plan)

Segment	HDFC Securities(Standard Brokerage Plan)	Zerodha(Flat Brokerage Plan)
Equity Delivery	0.50% (for both buy and sell orders) OR minimum of Rs. 25, ORMaximum of 2.5% on transaction value (both buy and sell)	0 (Free)
Equity Intraday	0.50% (for both buy and sell orders) OR minimum of Rs. 25, maximum of 2.5% on transaction value (both buy and sell)	0.03% or Rs. 20 per executed order whichever is lower
Equity Futures	0.05% (for both buy and sell orders) ORa minimum of Rs. 25, maximum of 2.5% on transaction value (both buy and sell)	0.03% or Rs. 20 per executed order whichever is lower
Equity Options	Higher of 1% of the premium amount or Rs.100 per lot (Both Buy & Sell)	Rs. 20 per executed order
Currency Futures	Brokerage of Rs. 12 per contract on each side	0.03% or Rs. 20 per executed order whichever is lower
Currency Options	Brokerage of Rs. 10 per contract each side	Rs. 20 per executed order
Commodity Futures	0.020% or minimum Rs.20 per order	0.03% or Rs. 20 per executed order whichever is lower
Commodity Options	Rs.100 per lot	Rs. 20 per executed order
Call & Trade Charges	Free	Rs. 50 per order

#2. HDFC Securities Value Plans

HDFC Securities Value plans to charge as low as 0.10% equity delivery and Rs 20 per order for derivatives trading. Value plans are only applicable to resident customers. 

There are two types of value plans –

1. Value Plan with a validity of 360 days – This plan is auto-renewed at the end of the tenure.

	Subscription Charges and Brokerage Charges
Plans	199	299	999	1999	2999	3999	4999	5999
Equity Delivery	0.32%	0.27%	0.22%	0.18%	0.15%	0.15%	0.10%	0.10%
Equity Intraday	0.032%	0.027%	0.022%	0.018%	0.015%	0.015%	0.010%	0.010%
Options (per order)	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20
Futures (per order)	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20
Zero Brokerage on ETF	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes

2. Brokerage Value Plan – Lifetime Validity

Value Plan Name	Value 30	Value 25	Value 20	Value 15
Value Plan Charges	10000/-	25000/-	50000/-	1,00,000/-
Free Equity Delivery Volume	40,00,000/-	150,00,000/-	4,00,00,000/-	12,00,00,000/-
Free Equity Delivery Volume Validity	360 days	360 days	360 days	360 days
Equity Intraday	0.030%	0.025%	0.020%	0.015%
Equity Delivery	0.30%	0.25%	0.20%	0.15%
Options (per order)	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20
Futures (per order)	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20	Rs 20

Winner – Zerodha

Zerodha vs HDFC Securities Other Charges

#1. Call and Trade Charges

HDFC Securities offers you free call and trade facility. Whereas Zerodha charges Rs. 50 per order. 

Zerodha	Rs. 50 per order
HDFC Securities	Free

Winner – HDFC Securities

#2. Mutual Fund and IPO Investment Charges

Both HDFC Securities and Zerodha offer a lucrative advantage to you by providing zero charges for mutual fund investments through their platforms. 

Additionally, both platforms do not charge any fees for IPO investments, making it easier for you to participate in the IPO.

Winner – Tie

#3. Auto-square Off Charges

Zerodha charges Rs. 50 per auto-squared off for all open intraday positions after the cut-off time. 

On the other hand, HDFC Securities charges 0.05% per executed trade for all Auto-square-off trades.

Winner – Zerodha because Zerodha has less charges on the high transaction value of trade. 

#4. Pledge and Unpledged Charges

You can use the margin against Demat holdings for trading futures & options only. Zerodha charges Rs 30 per scrip on pledging. There is no fee charged for unpledging. 

Conversely, with HDFC Securities, the pledge charges are contingent upon the shares held in your demat account, whereas unpledge requests are free of charge.

Stockbroker	Pledge	Unpledge
Zerodha	Rs 30 per scrip	Free
HDFC Securities	Depending upon the share on demat holding	Free

Winner – Zerodha 

#5. Margin Shortfall Penalty

HDFC Securities cannot place the order if there is insufficient margin in the trading account.

On the other hand, Zerodha charges the penalty on the debit balance in the trading account.

Shortfall collection	Penalty
(< Rs 1 lakh) and (< 10% of applicable margin)	0.50%
(>= Rs 1 lakh) or (>= 10% of applicable margin)	1%

A penalty of 5% will be applicable for 

• Every further instance of the shortfall is applicable, If there are more than 5 instances of a shortfall in a calendar month.
• Each subsequent instance of the margin shortfall, If the margin shortfall continues for more than 3 consecutive days.
• For MCX, from the 4th instance of the shortfall, if the margin shortfall is reported 3 times or more during a month. 

Winner – HDFC Securities

#6. CMR Copy Charges

Zerodha provides the first CMR (Client Master Report) copy for free, subsequent requests are charged Rs. 20 + Rs. 100 (courier charge).

On the other hand, HDFC Securities provides free CMR copy to its customers.

#7. Off Market Share Transfer Charges 

For off-market share transfers, Zerodha levies Rs. 25 or 0.03% of the transfer value, whichever is higher.

Whereas, HDFC Securities does not charge for off-market share transfers.

#8. Funds Transfer Charges

HDFC Securities does not charge any fee for deposit through net banking, UPI, IMPS, NEFT, or RTGS. 

On the other hand, Zerodha imposes a fee of Rs. 9 for net banking deposits. However, Zerodha does not levy any fees for depositing money through UPI, IMPS, NEFT, or RTGS.

#9. Charges for Canceled Orders

For canceled orders, both HDFC Securities and Zerodha do not charge any fees. 

Cancellation can be due to –

• Canceling orders manually
• Auto-canceled by the system
• The order rejected for the shortage of funds or any reason

#9. GTT Order Charges

Good Till Trigger (GTT) allows you to set certain trigger (price) conditions leading to buying/ selling of shares at a particular price. 

Both stock brokers do not charge any fees for setting up GTT orders. However, you need to pay the brokerage fee when the order is triggered.

#10. BTST Trading Charges

For BTST (Buy Today Sell Tomorrow) trades, both HDFC Securities and Zerodha do not charge any fees, as these orders fall under the delivery product category.

HDFC Securities Vs Zerodha Government Taxes and Regulatory Charges

#1. DP Charges

For each Demat debit transaction (sell), Zerodha applies a DP charge of Rs. 13.5 per scrip, whereas HDFC Securities imposes a DP charge of 0.04% or Rs. 20 whichever is lower.

There are no charges for Demat credit transactions. This is charged only on selling shares from the demat account.

#2. Government Taxes and Regulatory Charges

Government taxes and regulatory charges are consistent across both HDFC Securities and Zerodha. These fees are levied by the government on the services provided by the broker. The fees are – 

SEBI Turnover Tax	00.0001% on turnover
GST	18% of brokerage & transaction value
Stamp Duty	0.002% of the turnover value
STT Charges	0.1% of transaction value (Both Buy & Sell)

Conclusion: Zerodha Vs HDFC Securities

Zerodha is the best option for retail investors with low brokerage fees, AMC charges and other charges including auto square off charges.  

HDFC Securities is a perfect fit for those who are looking for a broker to provide more personalized support in their stock investments and don’t mind paying high brokerage in return. 

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