A broker with zero AMC: DP, pledge and service fees at 15 brokers

A broker with zero AMC still has a bill

A broker with zero AMC removes the fee for maintaining your demat account. It can still charge when shares leave that account, when you pledge a holding, or when a dealer closes or places an order. Dhan, FYERS and Groww list zero AMC for the individual accounts covered here. Zerodha and Upstox distinguish a first-year waiver from the ongoing fee for a non-BSDA account. These are different offers.

This page puts those fees into a stated trader-year, with each input beside its calculation. A blank price is never treated as free. Several rows have no total because the broker's own pages conflict or leave an input unclear. The comparison is dated 14 October 2026 and uses official tariffs and help pages, without affiliate income or a broker recommendation.

For charges tied to executed F&O turnover, use the separate F&O charges benchmark. The figures below cover the extra account and service lines.

The assumed year, before any broker is priced

Illustrative activity counts, chosen for comparison. This is an established resident individual account in its second year, non-BSDA, used in every quarter and month. The primary holder is male. These assumptions describe a model, not a typical customer.

Delivery sales that debit demat holdingsOne stock/ISIN per instruction on separate days; each debit value at least ₹100. No bond or mutual-fund debit.

40

Margin pledge creationsOne ISIN per creation, with no unpledge, repledge or invocation during the model year. These are existing holdings, not an MTF purchase.

6

Broker-initiated timed exitsOptions positions, each closed in one executed order. No freeze-quantity split and no shortfall liquidation.

3

Executed phone orderAn options order through the dealer, where a verified fee exists.

1

Sources: [4], [13], [6], [1]

Fifteen brokers: the account and service cost of that year

Checked 14 October 2026. Alphabetical, without ranking. Computed amounts are shown to the nearest paisa, without intermediate rounding. GST is added only where the source explicitly states it; 'before taxes' and 'not calculated' figures are not comparable with tax-inclusive totals. Download the CSV and replace the assumed counts.

Broker	AMC for modeled year	40 delivery debits	6 margin pledge creations	3 timed exits: service fee	1 phone order: service fee	Modeled total/status	Source IDs
5paisa	₹25/month + GST in tariff; invest page ₹45/traded month	40 × ₹20 + GST; legacy page ₹12.50 each	Tariff ₹20 + GST; legacy ₹12.50; pricing advertises ₹0 for portfolios ≥₹5 lakh	3 × ₹20 + GST (tariff)	₹20 + GST/order; legacy page ₹100/call	Not calculated: tariff conflict	five-tariff / five-current / five-legacy
Alice Blue	₹0 under current plan	40 × ₹15 × 1.18 = ₹708.00	6 × ₹15 × 1.18 = ₹106.20	Timed square-off fee not found	Regular phone fee not found	Not calculated: missing inputs	alice / alice-pledge
Angel One	4 × ₹60 × 1.18 = ₹283.20	40 × ₹20 × 1.18 = ₹944.00	6 × (₹5 + ₹15) × 1.18 = ₹141.60	₹0 additional fee; regular brokerage applies	₹20/order; row does not state tax	Not calculated: phone tax unclear	angel
Dhan	₹0 (individual/HUF)	40 × ₹12.50 × 1.18 = ₹590.00	6 × ₹15 × 1.18 = ₹106.20	3 × ₹20 × 1.18 = ₹70.80	₹50 × 1.18 = ₹59.00	₹826.00	dhan / dhan-tariff
Flattrade	Nil	40 × ₹20 × 1.18 = ₹944.00	6 × ₹20 × 1.18 = ₹141.60	3 × ₹50 × 1.18 = ₹177.00 (options)	₹50 × 1.18 = ₹59.00 (options)	₹1,321.60, subject to tariff-date caveat	flattrade
FYERS	₹0	40 × ₹12.50 × 1.18 = ₹590.00	6 × ₹5 × 1.18 = ₹35.40	3 × ₹50 × 1.18 = ₹177.00	₹50 × 1.18 = ₹59.00	₹861.40	fyers
Groww	₹0	40 × (₹3.50 + ₹16.50) × 1.18 = ₹944.00	6 × ₹20 × 1.18 = ₹141.60	3 × ₹50 × 1.18 = ₹177.00 (one order/position)	Fee not found; not assumed zero	Not calculated: phone input missing	groww / groww-amc / groww-margin
HDFC SKY	₹20/month after year one; another FAQ ₹25 + GST	40 × listed ₹20; tax not explicit	6 × listed ₹20; tax not explicit	RMS row ₹20 or 2.5%, whichever lower; same-page FAQ ₹50 + 18% GST/position	Not verified	Not calculated: conflicting and missing inputs	sky / sky-demat
Kotak Neo	Help lists ₹50/month with malformed holdings threshold	Current applicable DP tariff not verified	Current applicable pledge tariff not verified	Help ₹50 + GST/order; dated tariff calls ₹49/order brokerage	Dated tariff ₹49/order brokerage; separate service surcharge not verified	Not calculated: plan/tariff not resolved	kotak / kotak-square-off / kotak-tariff
m.Stock	₹0 on current ₹10 account	40 × ₹18 × 1.18 = ₹849.60	6 creations × ₹0 = ₹0; closures excluded	3 × ₹100 × 1.18 = ₹354.00	₹0	₹1,203.60; no closure or interest	mstock / mstock-amc
Sahi	₹0	40 × ₹13.50 × 1.18 = ₹637.20	Pricing/help ₹15 + GST; version 2.0 form ₹20 before GST; not calculated	Pricing ₹10/order; FAQ ₹50 + taxes/order	Not verified	Not calculated: fee conflict	sahi / sahi-faq / sahi-pledge / sahi-tariff
SAMCO	₹400 + applicable taxes	40 × ₹20 = ₹800 before taxes (within SAMCO)	6 × ₹30 = ₹180 before taxes	3 × ₹50 = ₹150 before taxes	₹50 + applicable taxes	₹1,580 before taxes; tax-inclusive total withheld	samco
Shoonya	₹0 for individual account	40 × ₹9 × 1.18 = ₹424.80	6 × listed ₹20 = ₹120; tax not stated	Timed-auto charge not found	₹0	Not calculated: missing tax/auto input	shoonya
Upstox	₹300 × 1.18 = ₹354.00 (non-BSDA, year two)	40 × ₹20 × 1.18 = ₹944.00	6 × ₹20 × 1.18 = ₹141.60	3 × ₹75 × 1.18 = ₹265.50 (standard)	₹75 × 1.18 = ₹88.50	₹1,793.60	upstox / upstox-auto
Zerodha	₹300 × 1.18 = ₹354.00 (non-BSDA, year two)	40 × ₹15.34 = ₹613.60 (already tax-inclusive)	6 × ₹30 × 1.18 = ₹212.40	3 × ₹50 × 1.18 = ₹177.00	₹50 × 1.18 = ₹59.00	₹1,416.00	zerodha / zerodha-dealer

Source IDs identify the broker-specific entries in the numbered source list. Regular brokerage and statutory trade charges are excluded; Angel One adds no separate auto-exit penalty. Dhan's account-opening tariff explicitly makes its auto and dealer fees additional to brokerage. Kotak's dated ₹49 amount is labelled brokerage, so it cannot be assumed to be an extra service fee. Sahi calls its ₹10 auto charge regular brokerage; its version 2.0 form dated 13 August 2025 supplies the 18% GST note for DP, but lists a different pledge price. Flattrade's footer announces starred charges effective 28 October 2026; the modeled rows are unstarred, but confirm applicability before using the conditional total. Unknowns remain unknown in the CSV.

Sources: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32]

Download this table (CSV)

Why the AMC headline needs an account type

AMC is account maintenance, not brokerage. The annual number depends on the tariff, account category and any waiver. Our table deliberately prices the second year so a welcome offer does not make an ongoing account look permanently free. It also assumes a non-BSDA account; a qualifying Basic Services Demat Account can have a different schedule.

Zerodha's charges page lists zero BSDA AMC up to ₹4 lakh of holdings, ₹100 plus GST between ₹4 lakh and ₹10 lakh, and ₹300 plus GST above ₹10 lakh. Those are Zerodha's listed slabs, not a promise that any account with a small balance qualifies. Its help page says the first-year waiver applies to primary resident individual accounts opened on or after 1 June 2026. A secondary demat account is treated differently.

Angel One's non-BSDA fee is charged after the first trade in each quarter, after the first free year. Our assumed year uses every quarter, so the annual AMC line is four quarterly charges. An idle-account model would need a different activity pattern. Upstox lists the first year free for newly onboarded customers and ₹300 plus GST for non-BSDA users thereafter.

Use the tariff that belongs to your actual account. A broker's low-cost youth, new-account, corporate or premium offer cannot be applied to another plan simply because the brand name matches.

DP charges: count the debits, then check the tax

The unit matters more than the number of shares. Zerodha lists its DP charge per scrip; Dhan uses instruction and ISIN; Shoonya uses scrip; m.Stock uses debit transaction. The model makes each sale a separate one-stock debit so it does not depend on a broker grouping several instructions. It does not assume every partial fill is a new DP bill.

Zerodha's ₹15.34 already includes GST. Multiplying it by 1.18 again would overstate the year. Dhan's ₹12.50 and FYERS' ₹12.50 are explicitly before GST, so each becomes ₹14.75. Equal DP lines do not imply equal annual bills: their pledge and dealer charges differ.

Groww lists the depository and broker components separately. For the modeled male holder, ₹3.50 plus ₹16.50 makes ₹20 before GST. Its waiver for a debit value below ₹100 affects the broker component; our assumed sales are outside that waiver. Female-holder component splits on some tariffs also differ, so the model states the holder assumption rather than silently applying a discount.

DP and AMC may appear away from the executed-order charge lines in a ledger. When checking costs, read the account statement as well as the trade confirmation. The aim is to account for each deduction once, including whether tax was already part of it.

Creation, closure and MTF: separate pledge fee buckets

Official fee distinctions checked 14 October 2026. Only the creation column belongs in the main model; amounts here are listed before GST unless stated otherwise.

Tariff	Margin pledge creation	Later action or other product	What changes the calculation
Dhan	₹15 + GST / transaction / ISIN	Same stated charge for unpledge and invocation	Six creations do not include six closures.
FYERS	₹5 + GST / margin pledge request	Margin unpledge ₹0; MTF pledge and unpledge ₹12 + GST each	Use the margin-pledge row, not the MTF row.
m.Stock	Pledge Shares creation ₹0	Closure ₹32 + GST / PSN / day; MTF creation and closure ₹32 + GST	Creation can be free while a later closure costs money.
Zerodha	₹30 + GST / request / ISIN	MTF pledge and unpledge ₹15 + GST / request / ISIN	The MTF rate does not replace the existing-holding pledge rate.
Angel One	Margin: ₹5 CDSL + ₹15 broker, plus GST	MTF: ₹12 CDSL + ₹8 broker, plus GST	Add both components; neither component alone is the bill.

Each row is sourced to that broker's tariff: dhan, fyers, mstock, zerodha and angel respectively. A PSN is the broker/depository pledge sequence number. No interest is modeled because there is no assumed borrowed amount or duration.

Sources: [4], [13], [25], [1], [12]

Download this table (CSV)

Reprice the year from your own statement

1. 1

   Establish which tariff applies

   Record account type, plan, opening date and any waiver. If the online page and your signed tariff disagree, ask the broker which governs your account. Save the response beside the statement.

2. 2

   Count each billable event

   Use DP instructions and stock identifiers for delivery debits. Count pledge creations separately from closures. For a dealer exit, record whether it was one order or several. The auto square-off guide covers timing, splitting and broker-specific fee disagreements.

3. 3

   Multiply each category separately

   Annual model = AMC + delivery-debit cost + pledge-creation cost + timed-exit service cost + phone-order service cost. For a stated pre-GST ₹20 fee at 18%, calculate ₹20 × 1.18, then multiply by the event count. Do not add GST to an amount already labeled inclusive.

4. 4

   Keep trading turnover outside this subtotal

   Add brokerage, exchange fees and statutory charges in a separate trading-cost calculation. The charges changelog holds the verified statutory rates. This page does not introduce another rate table or replace the contract note.

Zero pledge creation does not mean zero financing cost

A pledge fee pays for a depository action. It does not settle what you pay for using the resulting margin. A broker may list a separate interest or shortfall charge, with its own balance, product and time basis. Our event-count model has no borrowed balance or holding duration, so it cannot calculate that cost responsibly.

m.Stock's pricing, for example, separates Pledge Shares creation and closure from Pledge Shares interest. Quoting only the free creation row would leave out another part of that product. The annual total shown here is expressly limited to account and service events; it is not the cost of borrowing against shares.

The pledged-shares glossary explains the collateral concept. MTF purchases are a separate financing case and belong in the interest-rate comparison. Before changing a spreadsheet, decide which product your statement is actually charging for: an existing holding pledged for margin, an MTF-funded purchase, or an unpaid ledger balance. They can carry different tariff labels.

A fee comparison does not establish that a margin-funded trade is suitable or that the collateral will cover future losses. The calculation stops at the verified service inputs, without an assumption about returns or margin safety.

What this annual subtotal deliberately leaves out

• Regular executed-order brokerage and statutory charges

  The service subtotal is only one part of the bill. Normal brokerage can still apply to a timed or phone exit.

• Interest, margin penalties and liquidation for a shortfall

  Those require a funded amount, duration and the applicable policy. A timed intraday exit is not interchangeable with a debt-recovery liquidation.

• Closures, invocations, transfers and optional authorisations

  There are no unpledges, repledges, off-market transfers or DDPI activations in the assumed year. Add them if your statement contains them.

• Subscriptions, account-opening fees and special account categories

  A second-year individual account is the model. A first-year, corporate or separately paid plan needs its own version.

• Unverified fees

  Not found means the official pages checked did not establish the amount. It does not mean the broker charges zero or never offers the service.

A smaller bill starts with a complete record

Download the two tables and keep the check date with them. Replace the model's activity counts with the counts from your ledger, preserving the fee units and tax labels. If your account's amount changes, keep the previous tariff as a dated comparison rather than rewriting the old statement.

The result can explain why an account advertised with zero AMC still has annual deductions. It can also show whether a welcome waiver, an occasional dealer order or repeated collateral actions changed your own total. None of those observations establishes a single broker winner.

For broader cost habits, see how to reduce trading costs. Keep the annual account subtotal alongside, rather than inside, a per-trade turnover estimate. That gives you a clearer record to reconcile when a broker statement contains a charge you were not expecting.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from one of these. Each was checked on the date shown.

1. [1]Zerodha charges · checked 14 Oct 2026
2. [2]Zerodha AMC eligibility and timing · checked 14 Oct 2026
3. [3]Zerodha call and trade charges · checked 14 Oct 2026
4. [4]Dhan pricing · checked 14 Oct 2026
5. [5]Dhan account-opening tariff, page 15 · checked 14 Oct 2026
6. [6]Groww pricing · checked 14 Oct 2026
7. [7]Groww account maintenance help · checked 14 Oct 2026
8. [8]Groww pledge charge help · checked 14 Oct 2026
9. [9]Groww pledge-margin article · checked 14 Oct 2026
10. [10]Upstox brokerage charges (pricing redirects here) · checked 14 Oct 2026
11. [11]Upstox help: basic and Plus square-off charges · checked 14 Oct 2026
12. [12]Angel One pricing · checked 14 Oct 2026
13. [13]FYERS detailed charges · checked 14 Oct 2026
14. [14]Flattrade charges · checked 14 Oct 2026
15. [15]Alice Blue pricing · checked 14 Oct 2026
16. [16]Alice Blue pledge support · checked 14 Oct 2026
17. [17]5paisa Optimum tariff · checked 14 Oct 2026
18. [18]5paisa current brokerage page · checked 14 Oct 2026
19. [19]5paisa invest charges page · checked 14 Oct 2026
20. [20]HDFC SKY current pricing · checked 14 Oct 2026
21. [21]HDFC SKY demat charges · checked 14 Oct 2026
22. [22]Kotak Neo AMC help · checked 14 Oct 2026
23. [23]Kotak Neo square-off fee help · checked 14 Oct 2026
24. [24]Kotak brokerage tariff, effective 4 November 2024 · checked 14 Oct 2026
25. [25]m.Stock pricing · checked 14 Oct 2026
26. [26]m.Stock demat FAQ · checked 14 Oct 2026
27. [27]SAMCO pricing · checked 14 Oct 2026
28. [28]Shoonya pricing · checked 14 Oct 2026
29. [29]Sahi pricing · checked 14 Oct 2026
30. [30]Sahi auto-square-off FAQ · checked 14 Oct 2026
31. [31]Sahi pledge and unpledge fee help · checked 14 Oct 2026
32. [32]Sahi account-opening form, version 2.0 dated 13 August 2025, page 14 · checked 14 Oct 2026