DP charges on Zerodha sell transactions

From WebNotes, a public knowledge base. Last updated 11 May 2026. Reading time ~7 min.

Overview

When shares held in a client’s CDSL demat account are sold on the stock exchange, the depository participant (DP) debits the securities from the account and instructs CDSL to transfer them to the clearing corporation for settlement. This debit operation triggers a depository participant charge. At Zerodha, the DP charge is Rs 13.50 per ISIN (unique security identifier) per day, plus 18 percent GST, making the total Rs 15.93 per ISIN per day.

The charge is flat – it does not vary by the quantity sold or the value of shares sold. A client selling 1 share of Reliance Industries and a client selling 10,000 shares of Reliance Industries both pay the same Rs 15.93 DP charge for that ISIN on that day. If the client sells shares of three different companies on the same day, three separate DP charges of Rs 15.93 each (total Rs 47.79) are levied.

DP charges do not apply to intraday trades (MIS product type) because no actual demat debit occurs when a position is squared off within the session. They also do not apply to buy transactions, to F&O trades, or to currency derivatives.

What is a depository participant?

A depository is an institution that holds securities in electronic form and facilitates their transfer. India has two depositories: the Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDSL) and the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL). A depository participant is an intermediary registered with a depository that provides demat account services to investors. Zerodha is a DP registered with CDSL; most Zerodha client demat accounts are held with CDSL.

When securities are sold, the exchange’s clearing corporation needs to receive the securities from the seller. The DP (Zerodha) instructs CDSL to debit the client’s account and transfer the shares to the clearing corporation’s account. This debiting and transfer is the DP instruction that triggers the DP charge.

DP charge structure at Zerodha

Parameter	Value
DP charge	Rs 13.50 per ISIN per day
GST on DP charge	18% = Rs 2.43
Total DP charge	Rs 15.93 per ISIN per day
Applies to	Delivery sell transactions only
Basis	Per ISIN per trading day (not per quantity or value)
Depository	CDSL

The Rs 13.50 DP charge includes Zerodha’s DP margin and CDSL’s depository charges. CDSL’s own per-instruction charge is a small fraction of the Rs 13.50; the remainder is Zerodha’s revenue from DP services.

When DP charges apply

Triggered by a demat debit instruction

DP charges are triggered specifically when Zerodha submits a Delivery Instruction Slip (DIS) or a system-generated CDSL instruction to debit a client’s demat account. This happens in the following scenarios:

Selling delivery shares (CNC product type) on NSE or BSE
Selling shares received through IPO allotment
Selling shares received as gifts, inheritance, or bonus shares
Pledging shares (which involves a lien marking, not a full debit – see pledge and unpledge charges)
Off-market transfer (delivery of shares from one demat to another without exchange intermediation – see off-market transfer charges)

Not triggered by

Intraday sell orders (MIS): no demat debit, so no DP charge
F&O trades: futures and options are cash-settled (or settled through a separate clearing mechanism) without CDSL debit
Currency derivatives
Buy transactions (demat credit, not debit)
Buying on MTF (the shares remain pledged in the broker’s pool; specific DP treatment varies)

Impact on small holdings

The flat nature of the DP charge has a disproportionate impact on small holdings. An investor selling 1 share of a Rs 15 stock pays Rs 15.93 in DP charges, exceeding the sale proceeds. This is an important consideration for investors who accumulate fractional or very small positions.

For investors selling small quantities of many different stocks in a portfolio rebalancing exercise, DP charges add up quickly. Selling 10 different ISINs in one day incurs Rs 159.30 in DP charges alone, regardless of the value of shares sold.

DP charges and the DDPI

Historically, the mechanism by which Zerodha debited client demat accounts required a Power of Attorney (POA) from the client. The POA allowed Zerodha to give DIS instructions to CDSL on the client’s behalf without the client signing each instruction individually.

SEBI deprecated the POA mechanism for demat debits in 2022 and mandated the adoption of the Demat Debit and Pledge Instruction (DDPI) facility. The DDPI is a limited power of attorney restricted specifically to allowing the DP to debit shares for the purpose of completing exchange settlement. Clients can activate DDPI for a one-time charge of Rs 75 plus GST (Rs 88.50 total). Until DDPI is activated, clients who wish to sell delivery shares must authorise each debit through CDSL’s TPIN mechanism for each trade on the trade day. See DDPI charge for details.

The DP charge structure (Rs 13.50 + GST) is the same whether the debit is authorised via DDPI or via TPIN.

Comparison with other brokers

DP charges differ among brokers because the DP’s own pricing to the client is separate from CDSL’s standard charges. As of mid-2026:

Zerodha: Rs 13.50 + GST = Rs 15.93 per ISIN per day
Groww: Rs 13.50 + GST = Rs 15.93 (similar structure)
Upstox: Rs 18.50 + GST per ISIN per day (higher DP margin)
Angel One: Rs 20 + GST
HDFC Securities: varies; typically Rs 18 + GST

Clients who sell delivery shares very frequently benefit from choosing a broker with lower DP charges. For long-term buy-and-hold investors who rarely sell, DP charges are a minor consideration.

DP charges on pledging

When shares are pledged for margin purposes (the client’s shares are marked as collateral for F&O trading), a pledge creation instruction is submitted to CDSL. Zerodha charges Rs 30 plus GST per pledge instruction. This is separate from the DP charge on a sell transaction. Unpledging also carries a charge. See pledge and unpledge charges.

Avoiding DP charges

There is no way to avoid DP charges when selling delivery shares, as the charge is inherent to the CDSL demat debit instruction. The only strategies to minimise DP charges are:

Consolidate sell transactions to reduce the number of ISIN debits (sell all shares of a given scrip in one transaction on one day rather than in multiple smaller lots on different days)
Use direct mutual fund accounts (no demat debit mechanism applies to mutual fund redemptions through the fund house directly)
For intraday traders, use MIS product type (no DP charge applies)

Regulatory background

SEBI regulates the depository system under the Depositories Act 1996 and the SEBI (Depositories and Participants) Regulations 2018. CDSL’s schedule of charges for DP operations is approved by SEBI. The charge that Zerodha passes to clients includes CDSL’s fee plus Zerodha’s DP service charge. The aggregate is disclosed in the account opening documentation and in the standard schedule of charges published on Zerodha’s website.

References

SEBI (Depositories and Participants) Regulations 2018
Depositories Act 1996
CDSL Schedule of Charges for DPs (FY 2025-26)
SEBI Circular on DDPI replacing POA – SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD-1/P/CIR/2022/77
Zerodha Charges page, support.zerodha.com/category/charges (accessed May 2026)
SEBI Master Circular for Stock Brokers, SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD-1/P/CIR/2023/72

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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.

Last reviewed: 11 May 2026
Conflicts of interest: WebNotes is independent. No relationship with any broker, registrar or bank named in this article.