Demat AMC Charges — What You Actually Pay

If you've ever opened your trading app and seen a ₹354 or ₹88.50 debit on a day you didn't trade. That was your AMC.

It's one of those quiet, recurring charges nobody warns you about when you sign up. So let's slow down and look at exactly what you're paying, why, and how to bring it close to zero.

What Is Demat AMC, Really?

Think of your demat account like a digital locker at the bank. Your shares aren't sitting in your trading app. They're held at one of India's two depositories, NSDL or CDSL. Your broker (the Depository Participant or DP) is just the agent who opens and operates that locker on your behalf.

The AMC is the rent for that locker.

It used to be called the Annual Maintenance Charge. Some brokers now call it the Account Maintenance Charge, because they bill it quarterly instead of in one go. Same thing.

This catches a lot of new investors off guard. They imagine that "no trades = no charges". But the locker is still open and the broker has to maintain it: file your statements, route corporate actions like dividends and bonuses, talk to the depository every time you buy or sell, keep records for SEBI audits. None of that runs on goodwill.

One more thing to clear up: AMC is separate from brokerage. Brokerage is what the broker earns when you place a trade. AMC is what the broker earns just for the privilege of keeping your account open.

How Much Do Brokers Actually Charge?

The honest answer: anywhere from zero to ₹900 a year. Here's the 2026 landscape for India's most-used brokers, with GST added wherever the broker's headline number doesn't include it.

Two patterns jump out.

First, the spread is huge. A 5x difference between Groww (₹0) and HDFC Securities (~₹885). Over 10 years that's a ₹8,800 swing for literally the same service. The shares are held at the same NSDL or CDSL either way.

Second, the bank-backed brokers (ICICI Direct, HDFC Securities, Kotak) charge two to three times what discount brokers charge. You're paying for the integrated savings + trading + demat experience, plus the research desks and relationship managers. Whether that's worth ₹500 extra a year is your call.

BSDA — The Rule That Saves Most Beginners Money

Here's something SEBI did that almost nobody talks about. Since September 2024, the Basic Services Demat Account (BSDA) covers anyone with holdings up to ₹10 lakh. Before that the limit was just ₹2 lakh. The new rule applies to most retail investors in India.

What does BSDA actually do? It caps your AMC at almost nothing.

To qualify for BSDA, you need to tick three boxes:

1. You hold only one demat account as the sole or first holder. Joint accounts where you're the second holder don't count against you.
2. Your total holdings stay under ₹10 lakh. Both debt and equity, combined, at any point in time.
3. You're an individual, not a company or trust.

SEBI's BSDA framework now requires eligible accounts to be opened or converted as BSDA by default. Depository Participants reassess eligibility periodically, and under the 2026 framework this is moving to quarterly reassessment. If you fit the three boxes above and you're still being charged ₹354, something is wrong, and you should raise a ticket. If an eligible investor wants to stay on a regular demat account, the broker now has to take that as active consent through an authenticated, verifiable channel specified by the depository.

What If You Don't Pay?

Here's a question I get a lot. "What if I just ignore the AMC?"

The honest answer: you can't really. The broker will try to recover it in a fixed order, and each step gets a little more annoying.

1. First, they auto-debit from your trading balance. If you have any free cash sitting there, AMC gets deducted silently. No notification, no choice.
2. Then your ledger goes negative. If there's no balance, the AMC keeps accruing as a debit. Your account now technically owes the broker money.
3. Trading gets blocked. Most brokers won't let you place fresh buy orders while you have unpaid dues. Some let you sell existing holdings but credit the proceeds straight to the dues.
4. The account is marked dormant or frozen. After a year or so of non-payment plus inactivity, the broker can flag the account as dormant under SEBI rules. Reactivation involves paperwork.
5. Closure, reactivation, and new transactions can be blocked. Once dues sit on your ledger, the broker can refuse to close the account, reactivate it, or accept new transactions until you clear the balance. You usually can't even just walk away.

If you've genuinely stopped using a demat account, the cleanest move is to close it. Closure stops the AMC clock from the day the request is processed. Most brokers process closures online in 7–10 working days and don't charge for it. You'll need to either sell or transfer any remaining shares first.

How to Keep Your AMC Near Zero

There's no one trick. But four moves stacked together get most people to ₹0 or close to it.

1. Open only one demat account

This is the single biggest lever. BSDA requires a single demat account in your name as sole or first holder. If you have three (the bank-backed one your parents opened for you, the discount broker one you actually use, and the IPO-application one a friend recommended), all three pay full AMC and none qualifies for BSDA. Close the ones you don't use.

2. Choose a zero-AMC or low-AMC broker

If your portfolio will eventually cross ₹10 lakh, BSDA goes away and your broker's regular slab takes over. At that point Groww (₹0 forever) saves you ₹354 a year over Zerodha and ₹826 a year over ICICI Direct. Pick deliberately.

That said, AMC is only one input into "which broker?" Factor in the UI, the brokerage on derivatives, the customer service, and whether you actually trust them with your money. A ₹500 AMC saving doesn't matter if the platform is down on the day you need to exit.

3. Don't keep empty accounts running

An empty demat is still a demat. The locker is still open and the DP still bills you. Around 20% of Indian retail demat accounts are estimated to be inactive but still attracting AMC.

If you opened one for an IPO three years ago and haven't logged in since, close it. Use the broker's online closure flow. It's usually 10 clicks.

4. For some brokers, use referrals or prepayment

Zerodha's referral program credits ~1,000 points (one year of AMC equivalent) for new accounts you refer. It also lets you prepay AMC for 1 to 5 years upfront. That's useful if you want one-and-done billing instead of quarterly debits. It doesn't reduce the amount, but it removes the surprise.

Other Demat Charges to Watch

AMC is the most obvious bill, but it's not the only one. Four more line items hit your statement at random times. Worth knowing them before you see them.

DP charge on every sell (₹13–₹20 per scrip)

Every time you sell shares from your demat account, the depository (CDSL or NSDL) charges around ₹3.50–₹5.50, and the broker adds their cut on top, ~₹13–₹16. Total per sell: ₹13–₹20 + GST. It's per scrip per day, not per share, so selling 1,000 shares of Reliance costs the same DP charge as selling 1. Frequent traders feel this badly.

Dematerialisation charges (₹150–₹500 per certificate)

If you have old physical share certificates inherited from family, converting each one to demat form costs ₹150–₹500 per certificate plus courier. Most beginners don't deal with this anymore. Physical shares are mostly history. But if you do have inherited certificates, budget for it.

Pledge and margin charges (₹15–₹50 per pledge)

If you pledge shares to get margin for F&O trading, each pledge and unpledge transaction costs ₹15–₹50 per ISIN. This adds up fast for active derivative traders.

Physical statement and CMR charges (₹25–₹100)

Most statements are emailed for free. If you specifically ask for a physical Client Master Report or hard-copy holdings statement, that's ₹25–₹100 + courier. Worth knowing if you're applying for a loan against shares, since you'll need a CMR.

AMC vs Brokerage vs DP Charges

These three line items show up on every Indian retail investor's statement and they get blurred together constantly. Here's the simple separation.

One way to remember: AMC is for the locker, brokerage is for the trade, DP is for taking shares out of the locker. If you only buy and hold (no selling), you avoid DP charges entirely. If you don't trade at all in a year, you still pay AMC.

How to Check Whether Your Broker Charged You AMC

Most beginners have never opened their broker's ledger. It takes 30 seconds and it shows every charge the broker has ever applied, including AMC.

• Zerodha (Console): Go to Console → Funds → Statement. Filter by category "Account" or search for "AMC". You'll see ₹88.50 entries every 91 days from your account opening date.
• Groww: Go to You → Reports → Ledger. AMC entries will appear as "₹0" or as nothing at all, since Groww doesn't charge it.
• Upstox: Open Funds → Statement and look under "Unpaid Charges" for outstanding AMC and the ledger for posted ones.
• Angel One, ICICI Direct, HDFC Securities, Kotak: Open the contract note or the demat statement emailed monthly. The "Other charges" section breaks down AMC and DP charges line by line.

Two things to verify in the statement: (1) is GST being added (18%) — it should be, (2) is your account classified as BSDA when you tick the three boxes — if yes, the line item should be ₹0 or ₹100, not ₹354.

Should You Switch Broker Just to Save AMC?

Short answer: usually no, unless other things are wrong too.

Saving ₹500 a year on AMC sounds great until you compare it to the cost of switching. You have to transfer your holdings (off-market transfer charges apply), re-link your bank account, re-authorise everything for the new platform, and re-learn the interface. Some brokers also have higher DP charges or worse app reliability, which can eat that ₹500 in a single bad trading day.

A few situations where switching is worth it:

• You're holding multiple accounts you don't use. The fix isn't to switch, it's to close the dead ones so you become BSDA-eligible.
• You're at a bank-backed broker paying ₹885 a year and you don't use the research or relationship manager. Move to a discount broker and you save real money over a decade.
• Your current broker's app crashes during volatile sessions. Reliability matters more than ₹500 — switch for that reason, not the AMC.
• You trade F&O and your current broker has high option-order brokerage. Brokerage savings on derivatives dwarf AMC differences within months.

If none of those apply and you're already at a discount broker, just enable BSDA, close any unused accounts, and stop worrying about AMC. The bigger leverage in your portfolio is in what you buy, not where you keep it.

AMC Savings Calculator

How much could you actually save by switching to a zero-AMC broker or by triggering BSDA? Plug in your numbers below.