Overview of Zerodha fees and charges
When trading or investing at an online broker, fees can have a big impact on your results, so it's good to know what kind of charges you'll be facing and how these compare to fees at other brokers.
If fees are your top concern, Zerodha is a good choice, as it has low fees in general. Check our toplist for cheaper brokers.
I've personally tested dozens of global brokers, carefully looking at their fees not just on their website but also in the course of live trading. Here's how Zerodha fared:
- Zerodha charges low fees for trading stocks and ETFs.
- There is no inactivity fee even if you leave your account idle for a long time.
- The basic withdrawal fee is $0, but some transactions may cost more.
- Read our full review of Zerodha for info on safety, trading platforms and funding.
| Assets | Fee level | Fee terms |
|---|---|---|
| US stock fee | - | Not available |
| EURUSD fee | - | FX not available |
| US tech fund fee | - | Not available |
| Inactivity fee | Low | No inactivity fee |
For equity delivery, it doesn't charge any commission.There is exceptionally transparent information on fees on Zerodha's website, supplemented by an easy-to-use fee calculator. As other charges may apply, we have put together a table featuring catch-all costs.
Indian stock fees and FX fees
Given that Indian brokers usually offer only a few types of products, we compared the brokers by calculating all the fees of a typical trade for two assets.
We chose the following assets:
- Reliance, a large-cap Indian stock
- USDINR, a popular currency pair
We compared the fees for an equity delivery trading for Reliance and a currency futures trade for USDINR. In both cases, a typical trade means buying a position, holding it for one week, then selling it. For volume, we chose $2,000 for stocks and $20,000 for the currency trade.
The resulting catch-all benchmark includes spreads, commissions and financing costs for all brokers.
Now, let's see the verdict. Zerodha has super low stock and currency futures fees.
| Zerodha | Sharekhan | Interactive Brokers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indian stock | $0.0 | $4.00 | $0.20 |
| USDINR benchmark fee | $0.5 | $4.0 | - |
| Brokerage charge | Securities/Commodities transaction tax | Transaction/Clearing charges | Stamp charges | GST | SEBI charges | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equity delivery | None | 0.1% on buy and sell | NSE: 0.00325%/trade BSE: 0.003%/trade |
0.015% or ₹1500 / crore on buy side | 18% of the brokerage and transaction charges | INR 5 / crore |
| Equity intraday | 0.03% or Rs. 20/executed order, whichever is lower | 0.025% on sell | NSE: 0.00325%/trade BSE: 0.003%/trade |
0.003% or ₹300 / crore on buy side | ||
| Equity futures | 0.03% or Rs. 20/executed order, whichever is lower | 0.01% on sell | NSE: 0.0019%/trade | 0.002% or ₹200 / crore on buy side | ||
| Equity options | Flat Rs. 20 per executed order | 0.05% on sell | NSE: 0.05%/trade | 0.003% or ₹300 / crore on buy side | ||
| Currency futures | 0.03% or Rs. 20/executed order, whichever is lower | No STT fee | NSE: 0.0009%/trade BSE: 0.00022%/trade |
0.0001% or ₹10 / crore on buy side | ||
| Currency options | 0.03% or Rs. 20/executed order, whichever is lower | No STT fee | NSE: 0.035%/trade BSE: 0.001%/trade |
0.0001% or ₹10 / crore on buy side | ||
| Commodity options | 0.03% or Rs. 20/executed order, whichever is lower | 0.01% on sell | Ranges between 0.0005% to 0.001%/trade | 0.002% or ₹200 / crore on buy side | ||
| Commodity futures | 0.03% or Rs. 20/executed order, whichever is lower | 0.05% on sell | No fees | 0.003% or ₹300 / crore on buy side |
No inactivity fee, no withdrawal fee
While the broker charges no inactivity fee and withdrawal fee, there is an account fee.
The account fee is INR 300 + 18% tax per year for Demat accounts and INR 1,000 + 18% tax per year for corporate accounts. If you open a commodity account, you will be charged INR 100 + 18% tax per year.
| Broker | Inactivity fee | Withdrawal fee |
|---|---|---|
| Zerodha | $0 | |
| Sharekhan | $0 | |
| Interactive Brokers | $0 |
Check out this short video for a behind-the-scenes peek into how our experts personally test and evaluate brokers.
Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.
