BSDA charges and eligibility at Zerodha

A Basic Services Demat Account (BSDA) is a SEBI-defined demat account category that carries nil or reduced annual maintenance charges for resident individuals and NRIs whose securities holdings stay below prescribed value thresholds, set by SEBI circular SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD1/P/CIR/2024/91 dated 28 June 2024 and effective 1 September 2024. At Zerodha , the depository participant, an eligible account pays no maintenance charge while holdings stay at or below Rs 4 lakh, and Rs 25 a quarter plus GST once holdings cross Rs 4 lakh but stay under Rs 10 lakh.

This article is the charges-and-eligibility deep-dive. The concept entry, BSDA at Zerodha , defines the account type and its services; the standard fee schedule lives at AMC at Zerodha and Zerodha account opening charges . Here the focus is narrower: the exact SEBI slabs, the per-quarter rupee figures Zerodha bills at each slab, the four eligibility tests an account must clear, and the mechanics of converting a regular demat to a BSDA.

The BSDA matters because the demat maintenance charge is a fixed annual cost that does not scale with portfolio size. A retiree holding Rs 30,000 of a single blue-chip stock and an active trader holding Rs 30 lakh both faced the same Rs 300-a-year charge before the BSDA framework existed. SEBI built the category to remove that flat cost for small holders, and the 2024 revision lifted the qualifying ceiling from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, widening the pool of accounts that pay nothing.

SEBI BSDA framework

SEBI introduced the BSDA in 2012 through circular CIR/MRD/DP/22/2012 dated 26 September 2012. The stated aim was financial inclusion: the annual maintenance charge levied by depository participants discouraged small investors from holding securities in electronic form, so SEBI created a no-frills account with concessional charges for holdings below a threshold. The original slabs set nil charge up to Rs 50,000 of holdings and a reduced charge from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh.

The framework was revised twice. The intermediate thresholds were raised in 2019, and the current structure was set by SEBI circular SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD1/P/CIR/2024/91 dated 28 June 2024, which took effect on 1 September 2024 in supersession of paragraphs 1.8.1 to 1.8.5 of the Master Circular for Depositories dated 6 October 2023. That circular raised the qualifying ceiling to Rs 10 lakh and reset the AMC slabs.

Two depositories operate in India, CDSL and NSDL , and the BSDA framework binds the depository participants of both. Zerodha is a CDSL participant, so a Zerodha demat account is held with CDSL. The single-account test, described below, is enforced across both depositories so that an investor cannot hold one BSDA with a CDSL participant and a second demat with an NSDL participant and still claim the concession.

Holding-value slabs and the AMC at each

The 2024 circular caps the maximum AMC a depository participant may charge a BSDA at each holding-value band. The bands are:

Zerodha applies these slabs and bills the charge quarterly. Its published BSDA schedule for a resident individual reads:

The third row is the standard, non-BSDA AMC at Zerodha: Rs 75 a quarter, which annualises to the Rs 300-plus-GST figure documented at AMC at Zerodha . Once holdings cross Rs 10 lakh the BSDA concession ends and the account pays this rate. For an NRI BSDA the first two slabs are identical; the top, non-BSDA slab is higher at Rs 125 a quarter plus GST, reflecting the NRI demat charge structure.

The per-quarter figure is the operative number, because Zerodha bills the maintenance charge every 91 days from the account opening date rather than as a single annual debit. An account that sits in the Rs 4 lakh to Rs 10 lakh band for a full year therefore sees four debits of Rs 25 plus GST, posted to the funds statement on each billing date.

Valuation method

The slab an account falls into depends on the value of its holdings on the review date. SEBI prescribes the valuation method directly: holdings are valued at the daily closing price or NAV of the securities or mutual fund units. Where a closing price is unavailable the last traded price applies, and unlisted securities other than mutual fund units are taken at face value. Suspended securities are excluded from the eligibility determination.

Pledged securities still held in the demat account count towards the holding value. An investor who has pledged shares as margin for futures and options but whose shares remain in the demat account cannot exclude that value to stay inside a lower slab. Securities in the process of dematerialisation but not yet credited are not yet part of the holding value.

The four eligibility tests

A demat account qualifies as a BSDA only if it clears every one of four tests. Failing any single test moves the account to the regular AMC schedule.

One demat account per PAN

The investor must hold only one demat account across all depository participants and both depositories, and must be the sole or first holder of it. This is the test that catches the most people. Holding a second demat anywhere disqualifies the account from BSDA, and the disqualification applies even when both accounts are small. Zerodha’s documentation gives the worked example: a primary demat holding Rs 20,000 and a secondary demat account holding Rs 40,000 are both individually under the Rs 4 lakh nil slab, yet both pay the regular AMC because the investor holds two demats against one PAN.

Sole or first holder

The account must be in the investor’s name as the sole holder, or as the first holder of a joint demat account . SEBI counts only one BSDA per person across all depositories. Where a person is the first holder of one account and the second holder of another, the BSDA test is applied to the account where they are the sole or first holder.

Resident individual or NRI

Only resident individual and NRI accounts are eligible. HUF, corporate, partnership, trust and other non-individual accounts cannot be a BSDA and pay the standard AMC regardless of holding value. This excludes a Zerodha HUF account and a corporate demat from the concession.

Holdings under Rs 10 lakh, debt and non-debt combined

The combined value of debt and non-debt securities must not exceed Rs 10 lakh at any point. The circular sets a single Rs 10 lakh ceiling that covers both categories together, not separate Rs 10 lakh ceilings for debt and equity. The moment holdings cross Rs 10 lakh on a review date, the account converts to a regular demat.

How Zerodha applies BSDA

Zerodha categorises an eligible account as a BSDA automatically. The client does not file a separate BSDA application; the depository participant assesses the four tests and applies the concessional charge where they are met. The status is visible through the BSDA flag on the Client Master Report (CMR), which a client can pull from Zerodha Console . The CMR is the same report covered at Zerodha CMR and CML charges ; the BSDA flag tells the holder which schedule the account is billed on.

Zerodha reviews the holding value at each AMC billing cycle. If holdings have grown past Rs 4 lakh but stayed under Rs 10 lakh between billing dates, the reduced charge of Rs 25 a quarter applies from that cycle. If holdings have crossed Rs 10 lakh, the account moves to the Rs 75-a-quarter regular rate. The adjustment is forward-looking, applied from the next billing cycle rather than retroactively to the period already billed.

A first-year waiver sits on top of the BSDA slabs. Zerodha waives AMC for the first year on all resident individual accounts opened on or after 1 June 2026, regardless of holding value, and runs zero AMC on minor accounts. For an account opened under that rule, the BSDA slabs become relevant only from the second year, when billing resumes. The first-year position for accounts opened before that date is set out at Zerodha account opening charges .

Converting a regular demat to BSDA

Conversion is mechanical rather than an application. An account is on the regular schedule for one of two reasons: holdings exceed Rs 10 lakh, or the investor holds more than one demat against the PAN.

Where holdings have simply grown above Rs 10 lakh, nothing can be done while they stay there; the account is a regular demat by definition and pays Rs 75 a quarter. If the holding value later falls back below Rs 10 lakh on a review date, the account reverts to BSDA treatment from the next cycle.

Where the cause is multiple demat accounts, the route is consolidation. The investor transfers all securities into the account they want to keep through an off-market transfer , then closes the other demat accounts. Once a single demat remains against the PAN, with holdings under Rs 10 lakh, the account converts to BSDA automatically at the next billing review. There is no manual opt-in step; clearing the disqualifying account is what triggers the change.

There is no option to opt out of BSDA to retain a regular account. The classification follows the holding value and the single-account test, both assessed by the depository participant at each review date.

What BSDA does not change

The BSDA concession touches one line item: the demat account maintenance charge. It does not reduce any trading cost. Brokerage on equity delivery and on futures and options , securities transaction tax, exchange transaction charges, SEBI turnover fees, stamp duty and the GST on brokerage all apply at the standard rates documented at Zerodha charges and Zerodha brokerage structure . A BSDA holder pays the same Rs 20 or 0.03 per cent delivery brokerage cap as any other Zerodha client.

Two operational charges also remain. The depository participant transaction charge on each sell debit, covered at Zerodha DP charges , applies to a BSDA. The one-time DDPI charge for authorising debits without a CDSL TPIN is unaffected. The BSDA reduces the cost of holding securities, not the cost of trading them.

Who benefits most

The nil slab is most relevant to two groups. New investors who have recently opened an account and whose portfolio is still building up pay nothing until holdings cross Rs 4 lakh. Long-term holders with a concentrated, modest portfolio of a few stocks or direct mutual fund units under Rs 4 lakh pay nothing on an indefinite basis.

The reduced slab matters less in absolute terms. An account between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 10 lakh pays Rs 100 a year before GST under BSDA against Rs 300 a year before GST on the regular schedule, a saving of Rs 200 a year. For an active trader whose holdings sit above Rs 10 lakh, the BSDA designation has no effect, because the account is on the regular Rs 75-a-quarter rate either way.

See also

• BSDA at Zerodha
• AMC at Zerodha
• Zerodha account opening charges
• Zerodha charges
• Zerodha brokerage structure
• Zerodha DP charges
• Zerodha DDPI charge
• Zerodha CMR and CML charges
• Zerodha secondary demat account
• Zerodha joint demat holders
• Zerodha HUF account
• Zerodha NRI brokerage
• Demat account
• Dematerialisation
• Off-market transfer
• Depository participant
• CDSL
• NSDL
• Zerodha Console
• Zerodha Coin
• Kite by Zerodha
• F&O trading
• Zerodha minor account
• Zerodha 3-in-1 account
• SEBI Investment Management Department
• SEBI
• Depositories Act 1996
• Capital gains tax in India
• Zerodha
• Is Zerodha safe
• Mutual funds in India

External references

• SEBI
• Zerodha BSDA support article
• Zerodha AMC support article
• Zerodha charges
• CDSL
• NSDL

References

1. SEBI circular, “Review of Basic Services Demat Account (BSDA) to promote Financial Inclusion and Ease of Investing”, SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD1/P/CIR/2024/91, dated 28 June 2024, effective 1 September 2024.
2. SEBI Master Circular for Depositories, dated 6 October 2023 (paragraphs 1.8.1 to 1.8.5, superseded by the 2024 circular).
3. SEBI circular on Basic Services Demat Account, CIR/MRD/DP/22/2012, dated 26 September 2012 (original framework).
4. SEBI (Depositories and Participants) Regulations 2018.
5. Depositories Act 1996.
6. Zerodha support, “Basic Services Demat Account (BSDA): Explained along with charges”, accessed 19 June 2026.