Why are the account opening and brokerage charges higher for NRI's as compared to normal resident accounts?

The account opening and brokerage charges are higher for NRIs compared to a resident account because of the additional manual effort required to open an NRI account. The operation of an NRI account requires Zerodha to continuously communicate with the PIS banks for settlements in PIS accounts and to deduct and file TDS returns for Non-PIS accounts. To learn the trading process for NRIs, see What is the trading process and rules for NRI accounts?