How-to zerodha orbis nri account custodial participant code cp code nro non-pis nri support

How to get support for a Zerodha Orbis account

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A Zerodha Orbis account is not a Zerodha product and not a route to US or foreign stocks; it is the custodial mapping to Orbis Financial Corporation Limited , a SEBI-registered custodian, that a non-resident Indian on the Non-PIS route must hold to trade futures and options through Zerodha . Indian rules require an NRI’s derivative trades to clear through a custodian, so Zerodha maps the client’s NRO account to Orbis and issues a Custodial Participant (CP) code. Support for that account, therefore, is not the same as support for your trading account, and it does not sit in the same place.

This guide is for the NRI who holds, or is setting up, an Orbis custodial mapping and needs to raise a request: a CP code that is not reflecting, an F&O order rejected for a missing CP code, a clearing-charge query, or a request to deactivate the CP code and migrate back to a plain Non-PIS account. The short answer is that Orbis requests go through the NRI support channel, the NRI ticket category at support.zerodha.com and the dedicated NRI phone line, because the NRI desk coordinates with Orbis directly. There is no separate public Orbis ticket queue you raise things in yourself.

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 Orbis is on Zerodha, and what it is not

Orbis Financial Corporation Limited is a custodian, not a broker. When an NRI opens a Zerodha account on the Non-PIS route and wants to trade in the F&O segment, the rules do not let those trades settle the way a resident’s do. NRI derivative positions clear through a SEBI-registered custodian, and Zerodha’s custodial partner for that is Orbis. The client is mapped to an Orbis custodial account and issued a CP code, the Custodial Participant code that ties each NRO derivative trade to the custodian who confirms and settles it.

Two clarifications matter before you raise any request. First, Orbis is irrelevant to most Zerodha NRI clients. If you hold a PIS account paired with an NRE account , or you trade only equity delivery, mutual funds, IPOs and ETFs, you never touch Orbis, because those segments do not need a custodian and the PIS route does not offer F&O at all. Orbis enters only for the Non-PIS NRO client who specifically wants futures and options. Second, “Orbis” on Zerodha has nothing to do with overseas or US-stock investing. The query that sends people searching for a Zerodha Orbis account is sometimes really a question about investing abroad, which Zerodha addresses through separate tie-ups, not Orbis. Orbis is the domestic F&O custodian for NRIs.

Step-by-step procedure

The numbered box at the top sets the sequence. The detail below expands the two parts that decide whether your request lands in the right queue: confirming the request is genuinely an Orbis one, and routing it through the NRI channel rather than the general desk.

1. Confirm the request actually concerns Orbis

Before raising anything, place your issue in a segment. A query about equity holdings, a mutual fund order, a dividend credit or a PIS balance is not an Orbis matter, even on an NRI account; it is a plain NRI or main-desk query. Orbis is the custodian for NRI F&O only. If your problem touches a futures or options order, a CP code, or a custodial clearing charge, it is an Orbis matter. Getting this right at the start avoids a ticket bouncing between desks.

2. Gather your client ID and CP code

Keep your Zerodha client ID and your Orbis CP code in front of you. The CP code is the single identifier that links your NRO derivative trades to the Orbis custodial account; quoting it in the ticket lets the desk confirm your mapping with Orbis without a back-and-forth. If a CP code has not yet been issued, say so, because the request is then about getting the mapping set up rather than fixing an existing one.

3. Sign in and open a ticket under the NRI category

Log in to support.zerodha.com, click Create ticket, and choose the NRI account category rather than a generic trading or account-profile topic. There is no separate, public-facing Orbis ticket queue; the NRI desk owns the coordination with Orbis, so the NRI category is the channel that reaches the people who can act. Selecting the right category is what routes an Orbis request to the team that handles the custodian, instead of the general support pool. For the mechanics of raising a ticket, see how to create a ticket at Zerodha .

4. State the Orbis-specific issue precisely

Name the exact problem and attach evidence. The common Orbis requests are a CP-code mapping that is not reflecting against your account, an F&O order rejected for a missing or inactive CP code, a query on the Orbis clearing charge, or a request to deactivate the CP code. Attach the order-rejection screenshot or any Orbis correspondence. A precise description with the CP code quoted lets the desk raise the matter with Orbis in one pass rather than asking you for detail first. See how to attach files to a Zerodha ticket if the attachment is large.

5. Use the dedicated NRI phone line for time-sensitive issues

A CP-code mapping that blocks live F&O trading is time-sensitive, and a ticket may sit in a queue. For those, call the dedicated NRI support line instead. The NRI desk speaks to Orbis directly and can chase the custodial side faster than a written ticket moving through the general queue. Keep the phone request and the ticket on the same issue so there is a written record alongside the call.

6. Track the ticket and the Orbis turnaround

An Orbis fix routes through a third party, so it does not resolve as fast as an in-house Zerodha change. Track the ticket in your support dashboard, and reply on the existing thread rather than opening a fresh ticket, which only splits the history and slows the desk. See how to track a Zerodha ticket for following the status.

7. To exit Orbis, request CP-code deactivation

If you decide you no longer want the F&O segment and want to drop the custodial layer, the move is to deactivate the CP code and migrate back to a plain Non-PIS account. Raise a ticket asking for exactly that. Zerodha publishes a support article on migrating from an Orbis CP to a Non-PIS account, and the NRI desk processes the deactivation with Orbis. After migration your account keeps equity, mutual funds, IPO and ETF access on the Non-PIS route, but loses F&O until a CP code is set up again.

Why NRI F&O needs a custodian at all

The custodial requirement is regulatory, not a Zerodha preference. A resident’s equity and F&O trades clear directly through the broker and the clearing corporation. An NRI’s derivative trades carry an added settlement step: they must be confirmed by a SEBI-registered custodian holding a Custodial Participant code on the exchange, which is why the CP code exists. The custodian, Orbis in Zerodha’s case, confirms each NRI F&O trade and stands in the settlement chain. This is also why an NRI F&O order without an active CP code is rejected at source; the exchange has nowhere to route the custodial confirmation.

The clearing charge follows from this structure. Orbis levies Rs 150 per crore of turnover on futures and Rs 1,500 per crore on options, billed monthly, as the custodian’s clearing charge. It sits on top of Zerodha’s brokerage and the usual exchange and statutory levies, so an NRI trading F&O through Orbis carries a cost layer a resident does not. Factor it in before enabling the segment; for a low-volume trader the monthly custodial charge can outweigh the benefit of the F&O access.

How Orbis support differs from main-desk support

The reason Orbis requests do not go to the general ticket queue is that the issue often cannot be resolved inside Zerodha at all. A CP-code mapping, a custodial confirmation failure, or a deactivation each needs an action on the Orbis side, and only the NRI desk holds that coordination line. A general-queue agent would have to forward the matter to the NRI desk anyway, which adds a hop. Routing it to the NRI category, or the NRI phone line, at the start removes that hop.

This also sets expectations on turnaround. A purely Zerodha-side fix, resetting a Kite PIN or updating an address, completes inside Zerodha’s own systems. An Orbis-side fix depends on a third party’s processing time, so a realistic Orbis turnaround is longer. The dedicated NRI line is the lever for the time-sensitive cases; the ticket is the right tool for everything that can wait a working day or two.

See also

External references

References

  1. Zerodha, Open an NRI demat and trading account, listing PIS and Non-PIS routes, Orbis clearing charges (Rs 150 per crore futures, Rs 1,500 per crore options, monthly) and the dedicated NRI support team (as of 20 June 2026).
  2. Zerodha support, NRI account opening, including the article on migrating from an Orbis CP to a Non-PIS account (as of 20 June 2026).
  3. SEBI (Foreign Portfolio Investors) Regulations and exchange custodial-confirmation framework requiring NRI derivative trades to clear through a registered custodian holding a Custodial Participant code.

WebNotes Editorial Team prepares factual how-to guides based on publicly available regulatory documents and broker disclosures. WebNotes is not affiliated with Zerodha Broking Limited or Orbis Financial Corporation Limited. Charges and custodial arrangements are subject to change; verify current requirements at support.zerodha.com before acting.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Orbis on Zerodha?
Orbis is Orbis Financial Corporation Limited, a SEBI-registered custodian Zerodha partners with. An NRI on the Non-PIS route who wants to trade futures and options is mapped to an Orbis custodial account and given a CP code, since NRI derivatives must clear through a custodian.
Do all Zerodha NRI clients need an Orbis account?
No. Orbis is needed only by Non-PIS (NRO) clients who want the F&O segment. NRIs who trade only equity, mutual funds, IPOs and ETFs, and all PIS clients, never need an Orbis custodial mapping or a CP code.
How do I raise an Orbis support request at Zerodha?
Raise it through the NRI ticket category at support.zerodha.com and, for urgent issues, the dedicated NRI phone line. There is no separate public Orbis ticket queue; the NRI desk coordinates with Orbis on your behalf.
What does Orbis charge on Zerodha?
Orbis levies clearing charges of Rs 150 per crore on futures and Rs 1,500 per crore on options, billed monthly. This is a custodial clearing charge separate from Zerodha brokerage and from exchange and statutory levies.
How do I close or leave my Orbis account at Zerodha?
Raise a ticket asking to deactivate your CP code and migrate back to a plain Non-PIS account. Zerodha publishes a help article on migrating from an Orbis CP to a Non-PIS account; the NRI desk processes it with Orbis.
Why was my F&O order rejected with a CP-code error?
An NRI F&O order needs a valid Orbis CP code mapped to the account. If the mapping is incomplete or the CP code is not yet active, the order is rejected. Raise an NRI ticket quoting your client ID and CP code so the desk can fix the mapping with Orbis.

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WebNotes Editorial Team

The WebNotes Editorial Team covers Indian capital markets, payments infrastructure and retail investor procedures. Every article is fact-checked against primary sources, principally SEBI circulars and master directions, NPCI specifications and the official support documentation published by the intermediary in question. Drafts go through a second-pair-of-eyes review and a separate compliance read before publication, and revisions are tracked against the SEBI and NPCI rule changes referenced in the methodology section.

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