What is a Depository Participant (DP) charge and how is it calculated?

A Depository Participant (DP) charge is a fee applied when securities are sold from a demat account. This fee is levied by both the depository, such as Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDSL), and a broker, like Zerodha to cover the cost of maintaining and transferring securities in electronic form.

The conditions to calculate DP charges are as follows:

Per day, per stock:

• • If the shares of one company are sold once or multiple times in a day. DP charges will be applied only once.
  • If the shares of two or more companies are sold once or multiple times in a day. DP charges will be applied for the sale of each company's shares.
    

Gender of the primary demat account holder:

DP charges are different for male and female primary demat account holders. A demat account can be owned by one person as the primary holder or jointly with up to two others, who are the second and third holders. The table below shows the charges for male and female primary demat account holders:

Example scenario

• For accounts with male primary account holders
  • The same stock is sold multiple times in a day:
    • At 10:00 AM 50 shares of Reliance are sold.
    • At 2:00 PM another 50 shares of Reliance are sold.
    • DP charges: ₹13 + 18% GST = ₹15.34
  • Different stocks sold on the same day:
    • At 10:00 AM 50 shares of Reliance are sold.
    • At 2:00 PM 10 shares of Infosys are sold.
    • DP charges: ₹26 + 18% GST (₹13 for each stock) = ₹30.68
• For accounts with a female primary holders
  • The same stock is sold multiple times in a day:
    • At 10:00 AM 50 shares of Reliance are sold.
    • At 2:00 PM another 50 shares of Reliance are sold.
    • DP charges: ₹12.75 + 18% GST = ₹15.05
  • Different stocks sold on the same day:
    • At 10:00 AM 50 shares of TCS are sold.
    • At 11:00 AM 50 shares of BSE are sold.
    • DP charges: ₹25.50 + 18% GST (₹12.75 for each stock) = ₹30.09

Did you know?

• DP charges are posted directly on the funds statement and do not appear on the contract note. See, Why are DP charges not shown in the contract note?
• Refer to the CDSL amendments to operating instructions for depository participants (PDF).