What is a Demat Account?
A Demat Account or Dematerialised Lease administration software provides the facility of holding shares and securities safely & securely in an authorized electronic format. During any online trading, shares are bought and held safely in a Demat account. A Demant account opening is essential for doing any trading activities. As you can easily store any financial holding such as shares, government securities, exchange-traded funds, and mutual funds in your Demat account.
Depositories such as NSDL and CDSL provide Free Demat account services in India. Whereas each intermediary depository offers a Demat account which can have various charges depending upon the volume held in the account along with terms, and conditions of a broker, and the type of subscription.
The function of the Demat Account.
Opening a Demat account is similar to opening a bank account. But in the Demat account, you have to deal with shares & securities instead of money. When you buy a stock from the National Stock Exchange or Bombay Stock Exchange, the stock you purchase after clearing through NSE or the Indian clearing Corporation Limited, the purchased stock is credited to your Demat account.
Types of Demat Account
Repatriable Demat account
The Repatriable Demat account stores the investments made from repatriable funds. Repatriable funds can be termed as funds that can be transferred abroad. Repatriable funds are deposited in a separate bank account which is called the Non-Resident External Account (NRE account).
Non-repatriable Demat Account.
The Non-repatriable Demat accounts hold the investments made from non-repatriable funds. Non-repatriable funds (funds that cannot be taken/transferred abroad) are deposited in a different bank account known as the Non-Resident Ordinary Account (NRO account). Money can easily be transferred from a Non-Resident External account to a Non-Resident Ordinary account. However, once the transaction is made, the repatriable is irrecoverable and money cannot be pulled back to the NRE account.
Charges for Demat account opening
- Demat Account opening charges: Depending upon the broker and bank, it can vary from high to low and even free of cost.
- Annual maintenance charges: A fixed amount to be deducted throughout the year from the date of opening a Demat account. These charges can also be exceeded if the volume of the Demat account expands from a certain threshold.
- Transaction charges: Depend upon the number of transactions per month the bank or broker may impose a transaction fee for every month.
The benefit of opening a Demat account.
- Safe & secure wallet – Having a Demat account can store your securities electronically. No worries of losing or misplacing physical certificates, theft, or any fraud. Due to proper authentication, the chances of fake signatures on physical certificates are null.
- Instant trade service: With the Demat account, securities transactions are processed instantly and investors have the perks to convert their physical share certificates into digital form and also to convert digital certificates into the physical documents without any trouble.
- Zero stamp duty charges: Demat account does not involve additional paperwork cost and stamp duty charge on transfer of shares, which happens in the case of physical certificates. Investors can trade in any volume of their wish.
- No minimum balance fees: A Demat account doesn’t have any minimum balance requirements or needs a minimum number of trades. Investors can also freeze the Demat account for certain periods of time to limit the credit or debit flow of the account.
Conclusion
After opening your Demat account, you can begin with the purchase, sale, and storage of shares. Investors can also apply for initial public offerings of companies, and receive corporate benefits like dividends in your Demat account. Opening a Demat account can treat your account as your identity in the Indian stock market.
