Charges shown on the Kite order window

The Charges field on the Kite order window is an estimate of the all-in cost of the trade you are about to place, shown before you submit. It rolls up brokerage, securities transaction tax, exchange transaction charges, GST, SEBI charges, and stamp duty into a single approximate figure that updates live as you change quantity or price. Brokers are required to display applicable charges on the order placement window under exchange guidelines, and Kite does so as a pre-trade preview so the cost of trading is visible before, not only after, the order.

The figure is deliberately an estimate, not the final number. It is there to give you the order of magnitude of the cost so a small trade in a high-charge structure does not surprise you. The exact charges are fixed on the contract note after execution, because some inputs (the executed price, the number of executed orders if the order fills in parts) are not known until the trade completes. One charge is left out of the estimate entirely: DP charges, which are billed separately on the funds statement.

This article explains what the Charges field includes, what it leaves out, how it differs from the margin-required field sitting next to it on the same order window, and how the underlying statutory charges vary by trade type. The two fields answer different questions, and conflating them is the most common confusion on the order ticket.

Conflict-of-interest disclosure. This guide is published by the WebNotes Editorial Team for informational purposes and is written independently. WebNotes operates a Zerodha account-opening referral programme, disclosed on the pages that carry the referral link; this guide does not carry it and earns no referral commission from the procedure described here.

What the field displays

The Charges field shows the approximate total charges that will apply to the order. On Kite web, the approximate Charges are displayed on the order window; on the Kite app, you tap an icon to view the approximate charges and taxes. The amount recalculates automatically when you change the quantity or price, so it tracks the order you are actually building rather than a static fee. Clicking or tapping the amount expands a breakdown of the component charges.

The estimate folds in the statutory and exchange levies that apply to the trade type you selected. The components are the same line items that appear on the contract note: brokerage, STT or CTT, exchange transaction charges, GST, SEBI turnover charges, and stamp duty. Because the rates differ by product (delivery, intraday, F&O) and segment, the field reflects the specific combination you have chosen on the order ticket. Change CNC to MIS, or switch segments, and the estimate moves with the applicable rates.

What is included

The components that the order-window estimate accounts for, as published on Zerodha’s charges page, are the following.

These figures are the published rates as of June 2026; statutory rates change by government and exchange notification, so treat the order-window number as a live estimate against current rates rather than a fixed schedule. For the authoritative current rates, the Zerodha charges page is the source.

What is not included

Two things sit outside the order-window estimate. The first is DP charges. DP (Depository Participant) charges are levied separately and appear on the funds statement, not on the order window. They apply on the sell side of a delivery trade, charged per scrip when shares are debited from the CDSL demat account, and are a flat per-scrip amount rather than a percentage of value. Because they are not a function of the order you are typing, Kite keeps them off the order-ticket estimate and bills them separately.

The second is the NRI case. The charges for NRI accounts differ from what is displayed in the order window, so an NRI trader should not rely on the resident-account estimate shown on the ticket. For an exact figure in any case, the Zerodha brokerage calculator computes the precise all-in cost across NSE, BSE, and MCX for delivery, intraday, and F&O, including the components the order-window estimate approximates.

How it differs from the margin-required field

The order window shows two cost-related fields, and they measure different things. The Charges field estimates money you spend: the brokerage and statutory levies that leave your account permanently as the cost of trading. The Margin required field shows money the order blocks: the funds set aside to hold the position, which for a CNC delivery trade is the full value and for an MIS intraday or NRML F&O trade is the reduced margin.

The distinction is spent versus blocked. Margin is largely returned: when you close the position, the blocked margin is released back to your usable balance, less any loss. Charges are not returned; they are the cost of the round trip. A trader who reads the margin-required figure as the cost of the trade overstates it, and a trader who reads the charges figure as the funds needed to place the order understates it. You need enough free margin to satisfy the margin-required field to place the order at all, and you separately incur the charges-field amount as the cost. The margin mechanics, including SPAN and exposure for F&O, are in Margin required on the Kite order window and SPAN and exposure margin on Kite .

Why charges vary by trade type

The estimate moves with the trade type because the statutory rates are structured by it. Equity delivery under CNC carries zero brokerage at Zerodha but 0.1% STT on both the buy and the sell, so for a buy-and-hold investor the dominant cost is STT and stamp duty, not brokerage. Equity intraday under MIS carries brokerage at the lower of 0.03% or Rs 20 per executed order and 0.025% STT on the sell side only, so the brokerage cap matters more for small intraday clips. F&O carries its own brokerage (flat Rs 20 per order for options) and STT on the sell side at the derivative rates.

This is why the same notional value shows different charges under different products on the order window, and why switching the product code on the ticket changes the estimate. It also explains why the per-executed-order brokerage cap makes order count matter: an order that fills in several parts can incur brokerage per executed order, which the live estimate cannot fully predict before execution. For the rejection that blocks an order outright rather than just costing it, see Why orders get rejected on Kite .

Reading the estimate before placing

The practical use of the Charges field is a sanity check before submitting. On a small-value trade, the fixed and percentage levies can be a meaningful fraction of the trade, and the field surfaces that before you commit. Tap the amount to expand the line items and see which component dominates: STT and stamp duty on delivery, brokerage and STT on intraday and F&O. If the estimate looks wrong for the trade type, it usually means the product code or segment on the ticket is not what you intended, since the field follows the product you selected.

For anything where the exact number matters, a tax computation, a thin-margin arbitrage, an NRI trade, move off the order-window estimate to the brokerage calculator, which gives the precise figure including DP charges. The order-window field is built for speed and approximation at the moment of placing; the calculator is built for an exact pre-trade or post-trade reconciliation.

See also

• Margin required on the Kite order window
• Why orders get rejected on Kite
• CNC product code
• MIS product code
• NRML product code
• Limit order on Kite
• Market order on Kite
• SL-M order on Kite
• Trigger price vs limit price
• Why a limit order can execute at a better price
• Why a limit order is not executing
• SPAN and exposure margin on Kite
• Order validity types
• Iceberg order on Kite
• Disclosed quantity orders
• Cover order (Zerodha)
• AMO on Zerodha
• GTT order on Zerodha
• Kite nudges
• Kite (Zerodha)
• Kite web
• Kite mobile app
• Zerodha
• Zerodha Console
• CDSL
• SEBI
• National Stock Exchange
• Bombay Stock Exchange

External references

• Zerodha support: What does Charges on the Kite order window mean?
• Zerodha charges
• Zerodha brokerage calculator
• Zerodha support: brokerage for resident individual accounts
• NSE India: transaction charges
• SEBI: turnover fees and statutory charges

References

1. Zerodha support, What does Charges on the Kite order window mean? (as of 21 June 2026).
2. Zerodha charges page, brokerage, STT, transaction, GST, SEBI, and stamp-duty rates (as of 21 June 2026).
3. Zerodha brokerage calculator, contract-level charge computation (as of 21 June 2026).
4. SEBI, turnover fee and statutory charge framework for stock brokers.
5. NSE India, transaction charge schedule for the capital market and F&O segments.