Zerodha Review 2023: Demat Account Brokerage, Fee

In 2014, I opened a Zerodha account as my second Demat account. From 2010 through 2014, I used ICICI Direct as my brokerage account. Then I noticed ICICI Direct was charging hefty brokerage, so I decided to switch to Zerodha in 2014. Since that year, Zerodha has been my primary brokerage account.

Zerodha is the biggest discount broker in India with a client base of over 50 lakh users. In 2010, Zerodha was the first one who started the discount brokerage model in India to offer a flat trading brokerage of Rs. 20 per order irrespective of the trade volume.

Today many discount brokers offer the same benefits or even better plans, but personally, I ranked Zerodha higher among all the discount brokers. Zerodha is more customer-centric rather than just focusing on the business. For example, the “kill switch” feature prevents customers from burning out due to over-trading.

Zerodha keeps working on improving the technology part which is rare to find with other stockbrokers. Like Zerodha improves the Kite trading platform a lot over the years, and work is still going on. 

On the downside, many customers complain about poor customer support. Zerodha customer service is below as compared to the full-service brokers but better amount the discount brokers. Personally, I never face a bad experience so far.

Let’s do a Zerodha review in detail about brokerage charges, fees, and trading platforms.

Zerodha Charges Details 

Zerodha Account Charges 

Type of Charges	Details
Zerodha account opening charges	Equity – Rs. 200 Commodity – Rs. 100
Maintenance charges	Rs. 300 annually (Rs. 75 per quarter)

Your mobile number should be linked to your Aadhaar card for online account opening. You can open the account offline but you have to pay higher charges

• Offline account opening charges – Equity: Rs. 400 and Commodity: Rs. 200

I would suggest you to open Zerodha demat and trading account online which would take 24 hour to 48 hour on completing the account opening process. 

Zerodha Brokerage Charges Details 

Zerodha charges a lower of Rs 20 or 0.03% of the trade volume. For example, if you make a trade of Rs 50,000 then the brokerage charges would be Rs 15. Lower of Rs 20 (fix brokerage) or 0.03% of 50,000 = Rs 15, that you will be charged.

Equity delivery is completely free.

Segment	Brokerage Fee
Equity Delivery	Free
Equity Intraday	Rs. 20 per executed order or 0.03% (whichever is lower)
Equity Futures	Rs. 20 per executed order or 0.03% (whichever is lower)
Equity Options	Rs. 20 per executed order
Currency Futures & Options	Rs. 20 per executed order or 0.03% (whichever is lower)
Commodity F&O	Rs. 20 per executed order or 0.03% (whichever is lower)

Other Charges

• Zerodha Depository(DP) Charges – Rs. 13.5 (charged by CDSL + Zerodha on the selling of stocks bought in delivery)
• Zerodha Pledging Charges – Rs. 30 
• Zerodha Call and Trade Charges – Rs. 50 per order
• Zerodha Off-market transfer charges – Rs. 25 or 0.03% of the transfer value (whichever is higher).
• Zerodha Payment gateway charges – Rs. 9 per transaction except for UPI (No charges on UPI)
• Delayed Payment Charges – Interest charged 18% a year or 0.05% per day on the debit balance 
• Mutual Funds Commission – Zero
• GST – 18% on all fee & charges

Zerodha Margin Details

Delivery Margin 

Zerodha doesn’t provide a margin on equity delivery (NRML). You can only get margin in intraday (MIS) and cover orders (CO).

Intraday Leverage

Segment	Margin Leverage
Equity	52% of the VaR+ELM+Adhoc mandated by the exchange
Index F&O	Total of 52% of (SPAN + Exposure)
Stock F&O	Total of 52% of (SPAN + Exposure)
Currency Futures	2X(52% of NRML margins)
Commodity Futures	2X(52% of NRML margins)

Cover Orders Leverage

Segment	Leverage /Margins
Equity	30% of the VaR+ELM+Adhoc mandated by the exchange
Index F&O	2X(52% of NRML margins)
Stock Futures	2X(52% of NRML margins)
Currency Futures	2X(52% of NRML margins)
Commodity Futures	2X(52% of NRML margins)

 

Zerodha Trading Platforms

#1. Zerodha Kite Web

Zerodha Kite is an easy-to-use trading platform with a minimalistic design. You get everything in one place such as market overview, orders, holdings, positions, and funds details.

You can use shortcuts to quickly navigate the platform. Use shortcuts like 

• Press “o” from the keyboard to move to the orders section. 
• “P” for the positions section, 
• “f” for funds, 
• “a” for the dashboard.

You can also access Level 3 data up to 20 bids and offers for better analysis of market trends.

You get above 100 charting indicators such as Candlesticks, Bollinger bands that help you access the market trends in advance. 

Pros of Zerodha Kite

• Sleek user interface
• Even works at slow internet speed
• In-depth market analysis
• 100+ technical indicators 
• Integration with other platforms such as coin, console 

Cons of Zerodha Kite

• Backtesting of strategies not available
• Can’t buy IPO from Kite. You need to go to “Console”

#2. Zerodha Kite Mobile

Kite app is a lightweight and fast mobile app designed for mobile traders. You can trade stocks, invest in mutual funds, and learn about stocks in varsity through the Kite app.

Kite has integrated with other apps like Coin, Varsity, and Console making it one place to access other apps.

Pros of Zerodha Kite

• Minimalistic app UI
• Lightweight, faster app
• Multi apps integration like coin and varsity
• Invest in IPO as you can open the Console from the Kite app

Cons of Zerodha Kite

• App stutters in peak hours sometimes

Zerodha Additional Product  

#1. Console

The Console is a central reporting dashboard that provides you with the details of your trading, profit & loss statements, contract notes, and many other reports.

You can also invest in IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) through the console. You can pay through  UPI for placing IPO bids.

#2. Coin

Zerodha’s coin is India’s largest direct mutual fund investment platform with 2000+ commission-free direct mutual funds from more than 40 mutual fund houses.

You can check out various fund schemes like equity, debt, ELSS and sector-wise data to make your understanding before investing.

#3. Varsity

You can also learn about stock investment through Zerodha’s Varsity Mobile app. You get in-depth knowledge about stocks through cards and illustrations. 

Varsity has three difficulty levels to make your stock learning interesting. You get a quiz at the end of each lesson to recall what you learned.

You also get a virtual certification on completion of each module to boost your morale.

#4. Sentinel 

Sentinel allows you to create personalized market alerts on 90,000+ stocks, bonds, commodities, F&O contracts, and currencies across various exchanges.

You can set up basic alerts based on price, trade quantity, volume, and open interest. 

You can also create advanced alerts using mathematic expressions similar to ExcelFormulas.

For example, suppose INFYcurrent price is 700, you can set the condition as below –

LastTradedPrice(‘NSE:INFY’) >= 800

When INFY touches or crosses 800, the trigger will generate an alert for you. There’s no time limit, so you can set your alerts for future prices.

Zerodha Partner Products 

Zerodha has partnerships with other companies to provide wider investment opportunities to the customer. You can directly link your Zerodha account with the partner products to start using the portals. You need to pay an extra subscription fee for all these services.

#1. Sensibull

Sensibull is designed for option traders to build option trading strategies. You can compare different “options” side by side to know which will work best for you. You can run various complex strategies such as Spreads, Butterflies, and Condors with a single click.

Sensibull also allows you to do virtual trading so that you can practice options trading without putting your real money at risk.

Sensibull has now introduced the “Social trading” option to copy strategies of other experts, get your trades on WhatsApp, and execute with a single click from your phone’s notifications.

#2. Small Case

If you don’t have a fundamental knowledge of stocks, but you want to invest in stocks for the long term, then you can go with SmallCase.

You can build a diversified portfolio in stocks through theme-based investment strategies.

Where you can invest through readymade strategies such as

• All-Weather Investing – Long-term investment strategy that invests in equities, debt, and gold.
• Top 100 Stocks –  Invest in top 100 market cap companies using Nippon India ETF Nifty Bees and Nippon India ETF Junior Bees.
• Dividend Aristocrats – investing in companies that pay high dividends

You can access hundreds of other strategies as per your requirements.

#3. Streak 4.0

Zerodha streak is a cloud-based Algo-trading platform, where you can create your stock trading strategies. 

You can not only backtest your strategies but also, you can pick readymade strategies and then edit, backtest or deploy those strategies as per your requirements.

The Streak has 3 sections –

• My Strategies – You can create your own strategies.
• Discover – Streak publishes strategies for user understanding
• My Picks – Strategies that you picked from the Discover 

#4. GoldenPi

Zerodha has partnered with Golden Pi (detailed review) to help its clients invest in debt securities such as bonds, and treasury bills.

You can also invest in Sovereign gold bonds, PSU or corporate bonds if you prefer safer investments. 

Golden Pi allows you to invest in the categories below –

• Ultra short term bonds
• Tax free bonds
• Public sector bank bonds
• Highly safe bonds
• Bonds for senior citizens
• State government guaranteed bonds

Zerodha Customer Care Support

Zerodha customer care support is not at the level of full-service brokers but better among the discount brokers in India. If excellent customer support is your priority then I would suggest you to open account with full-service broker.

If you want to save brokerage and a decent customer support would be sufficient then go with Zerodha.

Zerodha has a 48-hour timeline to close a ticket. So, they respond to every ticket raised. Best way for fast solution is is to raise a ticket and tweet mentioning your ticket number.

You can raise a ticket with the log-in Zerodha support team to resolve your issue. You can visit Zerodha Support portal to create a ticket.

• Select any relevant topic from the given list.

• Scroll the page down and click on “Create a ticket”.

• Now select “Yes or No”, if you have a Zerodha account or not.

• If you are a Zerodha user, you can login with Kite. Otherwise, fill the details as given in the snapshot and click on “Create a Ticket”.

The customer support team will call you back once your ticket is created. 

Zerodha Customer Care Number

Account Opening	Trading Support	Call & Trade
080 4719 2020  080 7117 5337	080 4718 1888 080 4718 1999	080 4718 1888

You need a “Support Code” while calling Trading Support and enter the code when the IVR machine asks you so. Only then you can reach out to the trading support representative.

You can find your “Support Code” in your Console panel. 

Steps to get the support code –

Step 1 – Go to Console.zerodha.com and log in with your “Zerodha Kite” credentials. 

Step 2 – Click on the Account menu.

Step 3 – In the Account section, you can locate the hidden support code. Click on “View” to unhide the code.

Note down the support code to use with customer support.

Zerodha Advantages

• Zero brokerage on equity delivery
• Fix brokerage of Rs 20 on trading for high volumes
• Level-3 historical data and 100+ indicators for better analysis
• Create personalized alerts
• Also invest in IPOs, mutual funds, and bonds 
• No commission on the mutual funds’ investment
• Partnered with other high-end platforms like Sensibull, GoldenPi, and SmallCase for options trading and long-term investing.

Zerodha Disadvantages

• Sometimes users face server crashes during peak hours
• Customer support needs to improve

Zerodha Account Opening Process

I took about 15 to 20 mins to complete my entire Zerodha account opening application. The account has opened withing 48 hours after completing the application. You need the following documents to open the Zerodha account

• Photocopy of PAN card and Aadhaar card
• Your mobile number should linked to your Aadhar (Mandatory for online as customers will receive the OTP in that particular number only)
• Bank account proof – canceled cheque/bank statement/passbook front page(Anyone of them) to link with your bank account.
• Signature: A scanned copy or photograph of your signature.
• Income proof (for Futures and Options) – Form-16/Income Tax Return/ 6-month bank statement/net worth certificate from a CA

You can go through the our step by step guide to open Zerodha account for more details.

Final Words – Why You Should Open a Zerodha Account?

I have been using Zerodha for more than 8 years. So far, my experience has been good with Zerodha.

If you are looking for a cheap brokeage plan with advance trading platform and decent customer support then I would suggest you to open account with Zerodha. Many discount brokers offer free account opening but paying Rs 300 for Zerodha 300 is worth the overall experiecne with Zerodha.

FAQs