Statutory charges on trading in India
Overview
When a trader in India places an order, the contract note shows several charges beyond the broker’s own brokerage. These are statutory charges and exchange charges: levies imposed by the central government, the state government, the market regulator, and the exchanges, which the broker collects and remits but does not set or keep. A Zerodha client, for instance, pays zero brokerage on equity delivery yet still pays STT , stamp duty, the SEBI fee and GST on every applicable trade.
This article assembles the full statutory stack in one place: Securities Transaction Tax and Commodities Transaction Tax by segment, exchange transaction charges , the SEBI turnover fee , stamp duty under the uniform 2020 regime, the Investor Protection Fund Trust charge, and GST . For each, it states the rate, whether it falls on the buy side, the sell side, or both, and the legal basis. The segment-specific deep dives are linked throughout; this page is the reference hub that ties them together.
STT and CTT
Securities Transaction Tax is the largest statutory cost on most equity and equity-derivatives trades. It is levied by the central government under the Finance (No. 2) Act 2004, Chapter VII, and collected at the point of settlement by the exchange clearing corporation. Commodities Transaction Tax, introduced by the Finance Act 2013, is the parallel charge on non-agricultural commodity derivatives.
The rates below are current as of 19 June 2026. The derivative rates reflect the Finance Act 2026 hike effective 1 April 2026, which raised equity futures STT from 0.02 to 0.05 per cent on the sell side and equity options STT from 0.1 to 0.15 per cent of premium on the sell side. Cash-market rates were unchanged by that revision.
| Segment | Rate | Side |
|---|---|---|
| Equity delivery | 0.1% | Buy and sell |
| Equity intraday | 0.025% | Sell |
| Equity futures | 0.05% | Sell |
| Equity options | 0.15% of premium | Sell |
| Equity options exercise/expiry | 0.15% of settlement value | Buyer |
| Equity ETF and equity mutual fund units | 0.001% | Sell |
| Non-agri commodity futures | 0.01% | Sell |
| Non-agri commodity options | 0.05% of premium | Sell |
| Currency derivatives | Nil | None |
| Agricultural commodity futures | Nil | None |
Two structural points carry across the table. Equity delivery is the only major line charged on both buy and sell, because it represents an actual transfer of ownership. Currency derivatives carry no STT or CTT at all, which is the defining cost feature of that segment; see Zerodha currency brokerage . For the full treatment of how STT interacts with capital gains and the expiry-settlement trap on options, see STT and CTT on Zerodha and the securities transaction tax reference.
Exchange transaction charges
Exchange transaction charges are levied by NSE and BSE on the turnover routed through their matching systems, and the broker passes them through at cost. The rate varies by exchange and by segment, and on the options book it applies to premium rather than to contract value. These charges feed the GST base.
Equity-segment transaction charges run in the low single rupees per lakh of turnover; equity options charges are a meaningful percentage of premium because premium turnover is small relative to the underlying contract value. Currency and commodity segments have their own published rates. The full segment-by-segment treatment, with the NSE and BSE rate splits, is in exchange transaction charges . Across most trades, the exchange charge is smaller than STT but larger than the SEBI fee.
SEBI turnover fee
The SEBI turnover fee funds the Securities and Exchange Board of India and is levied at Rs 10 per crore of turnover, equal to 0.0001 per cent, across every segment: equity, F&O, currency and commodity. The broker collects it under SEBI’s regulations and remits it to the regulator; it is not broker revenue. GST at 18 per cent applies on top of the SEBI fee.
At Rs 10 per crore the charge is trivial on a small trade and visible only on large turnover. A Rs 10 lakh trade incurs Re 1 in SEBI fee. Its presence on the contract note matters less for cost than for completeness: it is one of the charges that goes into the GST base. The statutory basis and rate history are in SEBI turnover fee .
Stamp duty
Stamp duty on securities transactions is a state-level tax under the Indian Stamp Act 1899. Before 1 July 2020 the rate varied by state and sometimes fell on both sides of a trade. The Finance Act 2019 amended the Act and introduced a uniform national framework, effective 1 July 2020, under which stamp duty is levied at central-government rates, collected only on the buy side, and remitted to the state of the buyer’s registered address.
| Instrument | Rate | Side |
|---|---|---|
| Equity delivery | 0.015% | Buy only |
| Equity intraday | 0.003% | Buy only |
| Equity futures | 0.002% | Buy only |
| Equity options | 0.003% of premium | Buy only |
| Currency derivatives | 0.0001% | Buy only |
| Commodity futures | 0.002% | Buy only |
| Commodity options | 0.003% of premium | Buy only |
| Mutual fund units (exchange traded) | 0.015% | Buy only |
The buy-side-only rule is the headline change of the 2020 reform: a seller pays no stamp duty in any segment. Stamp duty also sits outside the GST base, since it is a statutory tax rather than a service fee. The collection mechanism, the state-distribution rule and the pre-2020 history are set out in stamp duty on securities transactions .
IPFT charge
The Investor Protection Fund Trust (IPFT) charge funds compensation for clients of a defaulting trading member, subject to a maximum admitted claim of Rs 25 lakh per investor per defaulter. The National Stock Exchange levies it; the Bombay Stock Exchange does not currently levy an IPFT charge.
Since 1 April 2023, NSE’s IPFT rates have been Rs 10 per crore on the equity segment and Rs 5 per crore on the currency segment. The charge is small in absolute terms but is a genuine line item on NSE trades, and like the exchange and SEBI charges it feeds the GST base. A trader routing the same order to BSE pays no IPFT, which is a minor but real cost difference between the two exchanges.
GST
Goods and Services Tax at 18 per cent applies to the sum of brokerage, exchange transaction charges, the SEBI turnover fee and the IPFT charge. It does not apply to STT, CTT or stamp duty, which are statutory taxes outside the GST base. This is the rule that determines the GST line on every contract note: tax the service-fee portion, leave the statutory-tax portion alone.
The split matters because it changes the effective cost of each component. A Rs 20 brokerage charge actually costs Rs 23.60 after GST; a Rs 200 STT charge costs Rs 200 because no GST is layered on it. The full treatment of the GST base and the reverse-charge edge cases is in GST on broking charges .
Buy-side, sell-side and both-side summary
Reading a contract note is easier once the side of each charge is fixed. The table below summarises, for the equity delivery case, which charges fall where.
| Charge | Buy side | Sell side |
|---|---|---|
| STT (equity delivery) | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Exchange transaction charge | Yes | Yes |
| SEBI turnover fee | Yes | Yes |
| IPFT (NSE) | Yes | Yes |
| Stamp duty | 0.015% | Nil |
| GST | On service fees | On service fees |
| DP charge | Nil | Rs 15.34 per scrip |
The DP charge of Rs 15.34 per scrip is a depository charge on the sell of a demat holding, not a per-trade statutory levy, but it is the other fixed sell-side cost a delivery investor meets and is included here for completeness. In the derivatives segments the both-side STT line collapses to a sell-side-only line, and the DP charge does not arise because nothing is debited from demat.
Worked example: equity delivery round trip
Take a delivery buy of Rs 1,00,000 and a delivery sell of Rs 1,00,000 of a single stock on NSE through Zerodha, each leg a single executed order.
| Component | Buy leg | Sell leg |
|---|---|---|
| Brokerage (delivery) | Rs 0 | Rs 0 |
| STT (0.1% each side) | Rs 100.00 | Rs 100.00 |
| Exchange transaction charge | about Rs 3 | about Rs 3 |
| SEBI fee (0.0001%) | Rs 0.10 | Rs 0.10 |
| IPFT (NSE, 0.0001%) | Rs 0.10 | Rs 0.10 |
| Stamp duty (0.015% buy only) | Rs 15.00 | Nil |
| DP charge | Nil | Rs 15.34 |
| GST (18% on service fees) | about Rs 0.58 | about Rs 0.58 |
The round trip costs roughly Rs 238, of which Rs 200 is STT and Rs 15.34 is the DP charge on the sell. Brokerage is zero. The example makes the central point of this page concrete: on a zero-brokerage delivery trade, the entire cost is statutory and depository, and STT is the dominant line. A trader who only watches brokerage misreads the true cost of the trade.
How the charges fit together
Three groups of charges sit on a trade. Statutory taxes, STT or CTT and stamp duty, are set by the central or state government and carry no GST. Exchange and regulatory charges, the transaction charge, the SEBI fee and IPFT, are set by the exchanges and the regulator and do carry GST. Brokerage, the only charge the broker sets, also carries GST. The broker assembles all of these on one contract note, collects them, and remits the statutory, exchange and regulatory portions to the relevant authorities, keeping only its own brokerage net of GST.
For the per-segment numbers behind this hub, follow the segment articles: STT and CTT on Zerodha , exchange transaction charges , SEBI turnover fee , stamp duty on securities transactions , GST on broking charges , and the segment cost builds in Zerodha brokerage structure , Zerodha F&O and options brokerage and Zerodha currency brokerage .
See also
- Zerodha
- Zerodha brokerage structure overview
- Zerodha F&O and options brokerage
- Zerodha F&O futures brokerage
- Zerodha currency brokerage
- STT and CTT on Zerodha
- Securities Transaction Tax
- STT on ETFs
- Exchange transaction charges
- SEBI turnover fee
- Stamp duty on securities transactions
- GST on broking charges
- DP charges on Zerodha
- Zerodha account opening charges
- Demat account
- National Stock Exchange
- Bombay Stock Exchange
- Multi Commodity Exchange
- SEBI Investment Management Department
- Kite by Zerodha
- Zerodha Console
- Currency trading in India
- Exchange-traded funds in India
External references
References
- Finance (No. 2) Act 2004, Chapter VII (Securities Transaction Tax), Sections 98-110.
- Finance Act 2013, Sections 116A-116E (Commodities Transaction Tax).
- Finance Act 2026 (Union Budget 2026-27): STT on equity futures raised to 0.05% and options to 0.15% of premium, effective 1 April 2026.
- Finance Act 2019, Sections 89-96, amending the Indian Stamp Act 1899; uniform stamp duty effective 1 July 2020.
- SEBI Circular on collection of stamp duty by clearing corporations, SEBI/HO/MRD2/DCAP/CIR/P/2020/127.
- SEBI turnover fee Rs 10 per crore (0.0001%) plus GST, across segments.
- NSE IPFT rates effective 1 April 2023: equity Rs 10 per crore, currency Rs 5 per crore; BSE levies no IPFT.
- Zerodha charges page, zerodha.com/charges (accessed 19 June 2026): DP charge Rs 15.34 per scrip on sell; GST 18% on brokerage plus transaction plus SEBI plus IPFT.