Hidden charges at Zerodha: the complete list

Zerodha is a SEBI-registered stockbroker (registration INZ000031633) that discloses every fee it levies on its public charges schedule at zerodha.com/charges, so it has no undisclosed or hidden charges in the literal sense. What clients call hidden charges are the disclosed fees they did not anticipate when they opened the account: the depository charge on every delivery sell, the annual demat maintenance fee, and the 18 per cent GST that rides on top of brokerage and exchange charges.

This article lists every charge a Zerodha client actually pays, segment by segment, each with its current rate as of 19 June 2026 and the source it comes from. It then isolates the handful of charges that catch people out and explains exactly why they appear. The aim is a single reference a client can hold against any debit on the ledger and trace it to a published number.

Brokerage and statutory rates change. The Union Budget 2026-27 raised securities transaction tax on derivatives with effect from 1 April 2026, so the figures here supersede the rates that applied through 2024 and 2025. Every rate below carries its as-of date. Verify any figure against zerodha.com/charges before acting on it.

Two categories of charge

A trade debit splits cleanly into what Zerodha keeps and what it collects on behalf of someone else. Brokerage is Zerodha’s revenue. Securities transaction tax goes to the central government. Exchange transaction charges go to the National Stock Exchange , the Bombay Stock Exchange , or the Multi Commodity Exchange. The SEBI turnover fee funds the regulator. Stamp duty goes to the state government of the buyer. Zerodha is a collecting agent for every one of these statutory amounts; it sets none of them.

The distinction matters because clients who feel overcharged often assume the broker pockets the lot. On a zero-brokerage delivery trade, Zerodha’s own revenue from the trade itself is nil. The cost the client sees is statutory tax plus a small exchange and depository charge. The brokerage structure overview maps the full architecture; this article focuses on which line items surprise people and why.

Brokerage by segment

Brokerage is the one charge Zerodha sets and retains. As of 19 June 2026, per zerodha.com/charges:

The charge is per executed order, not per lot or per share. A single order for ten lots of Nifty futures carries one Rs 20 brokerage, not ten. Equity delivery is genuinely free of brokerage; the equity delivery brokerage article details the zero-brokerage policy and its one consequence, the DP charge that follows every delivery sell. Detailed segment treatment lives in equity intraday brokerage , F&O futures brokerage , and F&O options brokerage .

Securities transaction tax and commodities transaction tax

Securities transaction tax (STT) is the single largest cost on most equity and derivative trades, and it is the line that most often surprises a delivery investor who came for zero brokerage. The central government sets it; Zerodha collects it at source. The rates below are current as of 19 June 2026 and reflect the Budget 2026-27 hike on derivatives effective 1 April 2026 (zerodha.com/charges and support.zerodha.com):

A delivery investor buying and selling Rs 1,00,000 of stock each way pays Rs 100 STT on the buy and Rs 100 on the sell, Rs 200 in a round trip, against zero brokerage. The futures and options rates rose on 1 April 2026: equity futures STT moved from 0.02 to 0.05 per cent on the sell side, and equity options STT moved from 0.1 to 0.15 per cent of premium. The full mechanism, the expiry-settlement trap on options, and the income-tax interaction are in STT and CTT on Zerodha trades and the concept article on securities transaction tax . Commodity-specific CTT is covered in commodity transaction tax .

Exchange transaction charges

Each exchange charges a fee on every trade it clears. Zerodha passes these through at the exchange’s published rate without markup. Current rates as of 19 June 2026 (zerodha.com/charges):

These are small in absolute terms but rise with turnover for active traders. The full schedule, including how options carry a higher percentage rate than futures because the premium base is smaller than the notional, is in exchange transaction charges .

SEBI turnover fee and IPFT

SEBI levies a turnover fee of Rs 10 per crore of turnover, plus GST, across most segments; for agricultural commodities it is Rs 1 per crore (zerodha.com/charges, as of 19 June 2026). The SEBI turnover fee article carries the rate history. The Investor Protection and Education Fund Trust (IPFT) levy is a separate small charge collected by the exchange, Rs 0.01 per crore in the equity and futures segments on NSE (zerodha.com/charges, as of 19 June 2026); the IPFT levy article details the per-segment figures. Both are tiny per trade and rarely noticed, but they appear on the contract note.

GST: the multiplier people miss

GST at 18 per cent applies to brokerage plus exchange transaction charges plus SEBI charges (zerodha.com/charges, as of 19 June 2026). It does not apply to STT, stamp duty, or IPFT. On a trade with Rs 20 brokerage and Rs 4 of exchange and SEBI charges, GST is Rs 4.32, lifting that block of charges to Rs 28.32 before STT and stamp duty. For an active options trader placing hundreds of orders a month, the 18 per cent on each Rs 20 brokerage compounds into a real number that the headline Rs 20 figure conceals. The mechanism, including the CGST plus SGST versus IGST split, is in GST on broking charges .

Stamp duty

Stamp duty is levied on the buy side only, remitted to the state government of the buyer’s registered address, and was unified nationally by the Finance Act 2019 amendment to the Indian Stamp Act 1899 (effective 1 July 2020). Rates as of 19 June 2026 (zerodha.com/charges): equity delivery 0.015 per cent or Rs 1,500 per crore; equity intraday 0.003 per cent; equity futures 0.002 per cent; equity options 0.003 per cent; currency 0.0001 per cent; commodity futures 0.002 per cent; commodity options 0.003 per cent. Because it is buy-side only, a sell trade carries no stamp duty. The per-segment schedule is in stamp duty for stockbroker trades .

DP charge: the charge that catches everyone

The depository participant (DP) charge is the most common surprise. When a client sells delivery shares, CDSL debits the securities from the demat account and Zerodha submits the instruction. That debit triggers a flat charge of Rs 15.34 per scrip per day as of 19 June 2026, made up of a Rs 3.5 CDSL fee, a Rs 9.5 Zerodha fee, and Rs 2.34 GST (zerodha.com/charges). It is flat: selling one share or ten thousand shares of the same scrip on the same day costs the same Rs 15.34. Selling three different scrips on one day costs Rs 15.34 three times.

Three features make it surprising. It applies even though delivery brokerage is zero, so a client who sold expecting no cost still sees a debit. It appears on the trading-account ledger, not the contract note, because it is a depository charge rather than an exchange-levied one, so a client reading only the contract note misses it. And it is flat, so on a tiny holding it can exceed the sale value. Female first-holders get a Rs 0.25 discount on the CDSL fee, and mutual fund and bond debits carry an additional Rs 0.25 discount (zerodha.com/charges, as of 19 June 2026). The full treatment, including the BTST case, is in DP charges on Zerodha sell transactions and DP charge on BTST trades .

Demat account maintenance charge

The annual maintenance charge (AMC) on the demat account is the second recurring surprise because it arrives even in months with no trading. For a non-BSDA resident individual it is Rs 300 a year plus 18 per cent GST, billed quarterly, with the first year free (zerodha.com/charges, as of 19 June 2026). Accounts under the Basic Services Demat Account (BSDA) thresholds pay less: nil up to Rs 4 lakh of holdings, Rs 100 a year plus GST between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, and Rs 300 a year plus GST above Rs 10 lakh, all billed quarterly. The BSDA framework and the auto-conversion rules are in Zerodha BSDA , and the AMC mechanics in AMC at Zerodha .

Call and trade

Orders placed through Zerodha’s phone-order desk, and orders the system auto-squares-off on the client’s behalf, carry Rs 50 per order on top of normal brokerage (zerodha.com/charges, as of 19 June 2026). An intraday position not closed by the client and squared off automatically near the session end incurs this Rs 50, which clients who never call the desk are surprised to see. The triggers are detailed in call and trade charges .

Pledge, DDPI, and off-market transfer

Pledging shares as margin collateral costs Rs 30 plus GST per pledge request per ISIN; the Margin Trading Facility pledge costs Rs 15 plus GST per pledge or unpledge per ISIN (zerodha.com/charges, as of 19 June 2026). Activating the Demat Debit and Pledge Instruction (DDPI), which replaces a physical power of attorney for demat debits, is a one-time charge covered in DDPI charge . An off-market transfer of securities from one demat to another without exchange intermediation costs Rs 25 per transaction (zerodha.com/charges, as of 19 June 2026). These appear in pledge and unpledge charges and off-market transfer charges .

Payment gateway and delayed payment interest

UPI fund transfers into the trading account are free. Funding through the net-banking payment gateway carries Rs 9 plus GST per transfer (zerodha.com/charges, as of 19 June 2026); the payment gateway fees article lists the methods. A debit balance, an account where the client has spent more than the cleared funds available, attracts interest of 18 per cent a year, or 0.05 per cent a day, on the outstanding amount (zerodha.com/charges, as of 19 June 2026), detailed in delayed payment interest . An order placed against a debit balance carries Rs 40 per executed order rather than the usual Rs 20.

Auction and short delivery

When a seller fails to deliver shares for settlement, the exchange buys them in an auction and recovers the cost, plus a penalty, from the defaulting seller. This is most relevant to BTST and intraday-to-delivery situations where the seller did not hold the shares in demat. The auction settlement mechanism and the associated penalty are covered in auction charges . Clients who sell shares they have not yet received in demat, the classic BTST risk, can face this cost, explained alongside the DP-charge question in DP charge on BTST trades .

Physical CMR and account opening

A physical copy of the Client Master Report (CMR) is free the first time; subsequent physical copies cost Rs 20 plus a Rs 100 courier charge plus 18 per cent GST (zerodha.com/charges, as of 19 June 2026). A digital CMR is free. Account opening is free for resident individuals and minors; NRI accounts cost Rs 500, and HUF, partnership, LLP, and corporate accounts cost Rs 500 when opened offline (zerodha.com/charges, as of 19 June 2026). The account opening charges article covers each account type.

Worked example: a delivery round trip

Consider a client who buys 100 shares of a Rs 500 stock (Rs 50,000) on the National Stock Exchange as a delivery trade and sells the lot the next week at Rs 52,000. Charges as of 19 June 2026:

The round trip costs about Rs 128.67 on a Rs 2,000 notional gain, even though the brokerage line reads zero on both legs. STT (Rs 102) and the DP charge (Rs 15.34) account for most of it. A client who expected zero cost because of zero brokerage now sees where the money went, and every figure traces to a published number.

Why nothing here is genuinely hidden

SEBI’s master circular for stock brokers requires itemised disclosure of every charge on each contract note, and Zerodha lists brokerage, STT, exchange charges, SEBI fee, GST, stamp duty, and DP charges as separate lines on the contract note or ledger. The DP charge sits on the ledger rather than the contract note only because it is a depository charge, not an exchange-levied one. A client has the right to receive the contract note by the end of the trading day and to dispute any charge within the window the broker specifies. The charges are public at zerodha.com/charges, reproducible through the Zerodha brokerage calculator , and verifiable line by line on Zerodha Console . Nothing is concealed; the surprise comes from charges a new client did not know to expect.

See also

• Zerodha
• Zerodha brokerage structure overview
• DP charges on Zerodha sell transactions
• DP charge on BTST trades at Zerodha
• Zerodha commodity brokerage and charges
• STT and CTT on Zerodha trades
• Securities transaction tax
• Exchange transaction charges
• SEBI turnover fee
• IPFT levy on Zerodha trades
• GST on broking charges
• Stamp duty for stockbroker trades
• AMC at Zerodha
• Zerodha BSDA
• Call and trade charges
• Pledge and unpledge charges
• DDPI charge
• Off-market transfer charges
• Payment gateway fees
• Delayed payment interest
• Auction charges
• CMR and CML charges
• Corporate action order charges
• MTF interest and brokerage
• NRI brokerage
• Account opening charges
• Equity delivery brokerage
• Equity intraday brokerage
• F&O futures brokerage
• F&O options brokerage
• Is Zerodha safe
• Zerodha Console
• Kite by Zerodha
• CDSL
• National Stock Exchange
• Bombay Stock Exchange
• SEBI

External references

• Zerodha charges
• Zerodha brokerage calculator
• Zerodha support: charges
• SEBI
• NSE India
• CDSL

References

1. Zerodha charges schedule, zerodha.com/charges (accessed 19 June 2026).
2. Zerodha support, “What do DP charges mean”, support.zerodha.com (accessed 19 June 2026).
3. Zerodha support, “How is the securities transaction tax (STT) calculated”, support.zerodha.com (accessed 19 June 2026).
4. Finance Act 2026 (Union Budget 2026-27), revised STT rates on futures and options effective 1 April 2026 (futures 0.05% on sell, options 0.15% of premium on sell).
5. Indian Stamp Act 1899, as amended by Finance Act 2019 (uniform stamp duty effective 1 July 2020).
6. SEBI Master Circular for Stock Brokers, SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD-1/P/CIR/2023/72.
7. CGST Act 2017, Section 9; IGST Act 2017, Section 5 (GST on broking services).