A demat account is an acronym for a dematerialised account. It keeps records of all the financial assets and investors’ holdings in electronic form. With a demat account, you will not have to worry about the safety of your investments. Instead, you can keep all your investments secure in one place. It eliminates risks like theft, robbery, damage, etc., that come with physical shares.
The demat system’s main aim is to make India’s trading process easier and simpler. In today’s world, it is possible to transfer shares within just a few hours compared to weeks or months.
Here are the following documents required to open a demat account.
- Identity Poof
- Address Proof
- Income Proof
- Bank Account Proof (canceled cheque)
- Copy of PAN Card
- Visa Copy for NRIs
- FEMA Declaration for NRIs
According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), all investors and traders must use demat accounts for share transactions in India mandatorily. It is possible to open a demat account with the intermediation of a depository participant, which can be any bank, stockbroking firm, etc. As a non-resident of India, you can store upto 5% of your capital in an Indian company as per the guidelines set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Share India is one of India’s leading stockbroking firms with over two decades of existence in the industry. Wondering how to start investing with Share India? First, you must open a demat account and get an easy and convenient way to enter the stock market in India.
Primarily, three types of demat accounts are available in India. They are
- Regular Demat Account
- Repatriable Demat Account
- Non-Repatriable Demat Accounts
Not only Indian residents but also non-resident Indians (NRIs) can access demat accounts to invest in various financial investment products in India. Choosing a particular demat account depends on your residential status. Before you choose a demat account that suits you best, you must understand the purpose of each demat account type in India and why their classification has happened. Thus, this results in valuable stock market participation.
Let’s discuss each of the demat accounts in detail.
Regular Demat Account
Investors who reside in India can access regular demat accounts. Investors who would like to invest in shares on their own must open regular demat accounts. Regular demat accounts make it easy to carry out share transactions quickly. Transferring shares from a regular demat account to other institutions will cost you nothing. All banks and discount brokers in India allow investors to open regular demat accounts with National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) and Central Depository Services Limited (CDSL). Regarding regular demat accounts, fees and charges depend upon the terms and conditions of both the depository and the depository participant (DP).
Repatriable Demat Account
A repatriable demat account is another type of demat account that NRIs can use. NRIs who want to open repatriable demat accounts must follow the rules of the Foreign Exchange Management Act. Using a repatriable demat account, NRIs can transfer funds overseas. Repatriable demat accounts are different from regular demat accounts. NRIs must link their repatriable demat accounts with non-resident external (NRE) bank accounts. All the banks and discount brokers in India allow the opening of repatriable demat accounts.
You must close the demat account you owned as a resident in India to open a repatriable demat account. Individuals with an old demat account can move all their earlier investments to a new non-resident ordinary (NRO) demat account. NRIs have to face a repatriation restriction in such cases. The rules of both countries impact the repatriation of the funds. By the rule of repatriation restriction, you can repatriate a maximum amount of $1 million every calendar year from January to December.
Non-Repatriable Demat Accounts
The Non-Repatriable demat account is the second type of demat account for NRIs. With a non-repatriable demat account, NRIs can’t move funds overseas with a repatriable demat account. Investors will have to link their Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) savings account with their non-repatriable demat account.
After becoming a non-residential India, investors with a regular demat account can move to a non-repatriable demat account, where they will have to face no loss of shares. Simply put, it is possible for NRIs to convert the old demat account to the category of NRO or open a new account.
BSDA Account
BSDA is an acronym for Basic Service demat Account, which is a special type of demat account. In 2012, the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) introduced a type of BSDA for eligible Indian residents. The primary objective of SEBI was to encourage those investors who have no or little knowledge about stock trading and investing. Thus, they are known as ‘’small investors.
Only a first-time demat account holder can open a BSDA account. It is not possible to open only one BSDA demat account. Make sure you are not the primary account holder in any joint demat account.
You will have to pay no charges on holdings less than INR 50,000 in a Basic Service Demat Account. But, there is a nominal maintenance charge of INR 100 every year on your holdings that come between INR 50,000 and 2 lakh. This is because BSDA shares’ gross value (principal+profit) should not be more than INR 2 lakh in a financial year.
Conclusion
To participate in the stock market in India, all you need to do is open a demat account . Every demat account in India has a specific purpose of serving individuals with different needs. However, the purpose of demat accounts is fairly simple: to invest in various financial assets in India.