The word “Discount” bring smiles and happiness on everyone’s face. It is always great to get the same product or service at a bargained price. Something similar has happened recently in the stock broking industry, known as the rise of the discount brokers in India. In this post we are going to discuss all about discount broking and find some of the best discount brokers in India.
At the end of this blog post. You will also get a broker selection guide which will tell you how to pick the best discount broker that suits all your needs.
What is a Discount Broker?
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Almost all the traditional brokers are not limited to providing just the brokerage service, they also provide advice to their client via a team of market experts that help you make the right investment decisions. While it is a very useful of service, because of this, the operating cost of all the brokerage was high and thus all of them charged a heavy brokerage from their clients.
With the rise in internet penetration and rising awareness about investing in the stock market, the investors don’t feel the need to get advised by some experts which is why discount brokers got popular.
As the name suggests, discount brokers provide their services (that is broking service) at a very low and affordable price compared to a traditional broker.
Discount brokers do not provide any advisory and stick to pure broking, as a result of which, their cost of operations is very low and are able to provide their services at a very competitive price. These brokers also provide a very nice, user-friendly trading terminal which any user can easily use to buy or sell stocks.
There are many discount brokers in the market, choosing the one which suits all your requirements can be challenging. In this post of best discount brokers in India, we have picked the market leaders in the discount broking industry and analyzed key features of each one of them to find the discount broker that provides you the best value for money.
I am sure, that by the end of this article, you will not only have sufficient knowledge about some of the best discount brokers in India, but you will also be able to choose the one which suits all your requirements.
Also Read: Stock Market Timings in India
So here is the list of some of the best discount brokers in India with their key features, and their pros and cons.
Best Discount Brokers in India:
Here is the list of some of the best discount brokers in India with their key features, and their pros and cons.
Zerodha:
Founded in 2010, by Nitin Kamath, Zerodha is one of the first discount brokers in India. In a short span of a decade, Zerodha has come a long way to become India’s largest discount broker, with more than 1.5 million clients that contribute over 15% of retail trading volumes across the Indian stock market.
In the year 2018, one of the reports released by the NSE revealed that Zerodha is the biggest stockbroking firm in India, which means it is far ahead of the old corporate brokers such as ICICIDirect and HDFC Securities.
Services offered by Zerodha:
Zerodha, being one of the largest brokers of India, is a member of BSE, NSE,MCX and MCX-SX, and allows you to trade in following instruments.
- Equity Stocks
- Mutual Funds (Zerodha Coin)
- Equity Derivatives
- Commodity Derivatives
- Government Securities
- Sovereign Gold Bonds
Apart from above mentioned services offered by Zerodha, there is a whole host of other services provided by Zerodha as well, such as Zerodha Varsity, an investor education initiative where customers can educate themselves about the stock market and various aspects of trading and investing.
Zerodha Console is a back office tool which provides detailed reports of all your transactions. Zerodha Coin, a free platform to invest in mutual funds directly, without any commission.
Brokerage Charges:
Zerodha was one of the first brokers to charge Zero fee on equity delivery. All the equity delivery investments, whether its BSE or NSE are absolutely free.
However, there is a small brokerage charge on equity intraday trading, futures and options of Rs. 20 per executed order.
Account Opening charges:
So how much is it going to cost you to open a demat and trading account in Zerodha. Being a discount trading platform, the charges of opening a demat and trading account are minimal as well.
For opening an Equity account, you have to pay Rs.200 as account opening charges, and you can trade in equities, F&O and currency markets. If you want to trade in commodities, you have to pay Rs.300 as account opening charges.
Note: Opening a Demat and trading account attracts Rs.300 of additional AMC (Annual Maintenance Charges) you don’t have to open a demat account if you are planning to trade in futures and options, you can simply open a trading account and save that additional Rs.300 annual charges.
Pros and Cons of Zerodha:
Just like any other platform, Zerodha has its own shares of advantages and disadvantages. Here are some pros and cons of using Zerodha as your trading platform:”
Pros:
- Zero brokerage charges for equity delivery trading.
- Very user-friendly trading platform
- Detailed reporting of all transactions
- Fast and easy to use mobile app.
- Direct mutual fund investment, no commissions
Cons:
- No research reports, tips or advisory, you have to invest with your own research.
- Margin provided in derivatives is low.
Upstox:
Upstox is the second name in the list of best discount brokers in India. However, it does not lag behind in features from its rivals.
Formerly known as RKSV securities, in 2012, upstox is one of the fastest discount broker in India. However it does not lag in behind in terms of features from its rivals.
The reason why Upstox gained so much popularity and trust from people is because the brokerage house is backed and funded by some of the most reputed investors such as Ratan Tata, GVK Davix and many more.
Upstox is especially suitable for traders who are specifically looking for low brokerage, combined with high margins and a high tech platform.
Services offered by Upstox:
The brokerage house provides various trading platforms such as pro web which is an advanced web based trading platform loaded with powerful charts and indicators that will help you trade better.
Further, there are two more third party platforms, namely DartStocks, provided by iDarts that facilitates various scanners and advanced charting tools to help you trade in daily routine.
Apart from that you can also invest in mutual funds using Upstox platform.
Brokerage Charges:
Upstox does not charge brokerage on equity delivery, however, it offers two different plans for trading derivatives which are:
Basic: In This plan, you have to pay Rs.20 per executed order and you get 20x leverage in the cash segment.
Priority: In this plan you have to pay Rs.30 per executed order and you get 25x leverage on cash segment.
Account Opening Charges:
The account opening charges for upstox are similar to other platforms that is you have to pay Rs.300 for account opening charges, however, the annual maintenance charges is lower at Rs.150.
Pros and Cons of Upstox:
Here are some of the pros and cons of using upstox as your trading platform.
Pros:
- Free delivery trading
- Fast and paperless Demat and trading account opening process
- Fixed low brokerage, irrespective of the volume
- Higher margin available against shares.
- Basic and priority brokerage plans provide better options to choose from.
Cons:
- 3 in 1 account not available
- Cannot invest in IPO and FPOs through Upstox.
5 Paisa:
5 Paisa is backed by financial behemoth named India Infoline (IIFL). With such a giant brand name behind the brokerage house, it brings a lot of trust in the company.
5 Paisa was one of the first companies that encouraged the discount broking industry before anyone else even thought of doing in India.
As far as services are concerned, 5 Paisa is a class apart from all the other discount brokers in India.
Services offered by 5 Paisa:
Just like most other platforms, 5 Paisa also offers extremely fast and truly paperless account opening service. The company claims that you can open an account in 5 minutes and can start trading within 1 hour of opening account.
However, what makes 5 Paisa far better than all the other rivals is the fact that 5 paisa also offers various other financial products and services that no other discount broker is able to provide. These products include car insurance, health and term insurance on the financial portal itself.
5 Paisa is the only discount broker that provides financial advisory services if you want to trade and invest on the advice of an expert rather than using Do-it-Yourself approach.
5 paisa also has its own mobile trading app making it easier for you to trade anytime, anywhere. Apart from that, they also provide a web-based trading platform named trade station, which is an advanced browser based platform to help you trade better.
Brokerage:
5 Paisa claims to charge lowest brokerage among all the other brokerage houses. 5 paisa offers three different brokerage plans for you to choose from:
Optimum plan: In this plan you have to pay a flat Rs.20 brokerage per order across all segments.
Platinum plan: This plan offers lowest brokerage among all the discount brokers. Under this plan you have to pay flat Rs.10 per order across all segments except equity options where you have to pay Rs.2 per lot. Titanium plan: This is the most premium plan offered by 5 Paisa where there is zero brokerage on equity delivery just like other discount brokers, however, in all the other segments there is a flat brokerage of Rs.10 per order except equity options which attracts a brokerage of Rs.2 per lot.
Account Opening Fee:
Opening an account in 5 Paisa is free of cost, however, you have to pay a small amount of AMC (Annual Maintenance Charges) which is Rs.45 per month, but is applicable to only those months when you trade.
Pros and Cons of 5 Paisa:
Here are some pros and cons of 5 paisa that you should keeping in mind while choosing it as your discount broker.
Pros:
- Lowest brokerage fee flat at Rs. 10 per executed order.
- 100% online, paperless account opening
- Low maintenance charges
- Other services such as car insurance, term and health insurance and investment advisory service
- Investment in mutual fund insurance plans from the same account
Cons:
- No 3-in-1 account service
- Exchange transaction charges are higher compared to peers
Fyers:
Fyers is one of the recent entrants in the discount broking industry, but has gained rapid popularity in a short span of time.
Incorporated in 2015, Fyers is a Bangalore based fast evolving discount broker in India, Founded by Tejas Khoday who is also the CEO of the company.
Tejas has worked as a professional trader in a proprietary trading firm before starting Fyers.
Because of his strong background and experience in trading, he has designed Fyers, keeping in mind the problems that most traders face. In other words, Fyers is a platform that is created by a trader for traders.
Fyers is highly technology centric platform that provides advanced tools and charts to make your trading experience better.
Services offered by Fyers:
Fyers has two most popular trading platforms, Fyers web and Fyers one.
Fyers web is a web based platform and can be accessed using any device such as desktop. Laptop and even mobile.
Fyers one is a fully loaded trading platform which provides advanced charting using with historical data up to 10 years. Fyers one also provides advanced screens where you can get support and resistance levels.
Apart from these services, Fyers also provides thematic investing, where you can invest in more than 100 pre-defined portfolio to choose based on various themes, you can pick any theme you like and start investing
You can also modify a portfolio by adding or removing stocks from existing theme. If you think your chosen theme can perform, you can start buying it.
Brokerage:
The brokerage plans offered by Fyers is simple and similar to other discount brokers. There is zero brokerage for equity delivery and thematic investment.
For all the other segments such as F&O the brokerage is Rs.20 per order.
Account Opening Charges:
This is the place where Fyers takes the cake among all the other trading platforms. Opening account in Fyers is absolutely free, not just that, there are no account opening charges and the AMC is absolutely free as well.
Pros and Cons of Fyers:
Some of the pros and cons of using Fyers as your discount broker are as follows:
Pros:
- Completely free online account opening.
- No brokerage on equity delivery, competitive brokerage on all segments
- Advanced, real time charts and analytics
- Thematic investment for theme based trading.
Cons:
- Slightly higher exchange transactions compared to other brokers.
Angel Broking:
Angel broking is a well-known brand that was earlier a full service broker, however in 2019, the company changed their business model, thereby adapting a discount broking model.
Incorporated in 1987, it is one of the oldest among discount brokers in India with more than 30 year of experience in the industry.
The company has more than 1 million customers spread across more than 1,800 cities across the country.
Services offered by Angel Broking:
Although Angel broking is a discount broker, what makes it different from most of its competitors is that they provide guidance and recommendation for investing in stock market and also provide detailed research report of companies and provide many other value added tools and services.
Brokerage:
The brokerage plans of Angel broking are similar to almost all the other discount brokers in India.
There is zero brokerage on equity delivery while intraday trading in derivatives such as Futures and Options attracts a brokerage of Rs.20 per executed order.
Similarly, all the other segments such as Commodity F&O and currency F&O are also charged a brokerage of Rs.20 per trade.
Account Opening Charges:
The best part about Angel Broking is that opening an account is absolutely free, also the AMC (Annual Maintenance Charges) are also waived off for the first year, and from the second year onwards, you have to pay Rs.450 per year as AMC.
Pros and Cons of Angel Broking:
Here are the pros and cons of using Angel broking your discount broker:
Pros:
- Full service broker with charges of a discount broker.
- Quick account opening process (account opened within 5 min)
- Nominal flat brokerage charges
- One of the highest leverages available (48x)
- Provides premium services like investment advisory and detailed research report
Cons:
- No 3 in 1 Account
- Call and trade charges are slightly expensive.
Best Discount Broker in India (Selection Guide)
While choosing a stock broker, you must keep few things in mind.
The main purpose of opening account with a discount broker is to reduce your investment expenses so that you are able to maximize profits. So the first thing to look for a broker which is offering a reasonable brokerage charge and low annual maintenance charges with no hidden fee or charges
Since many people use discount broker for trading, you will also need high quality trading tools which will help you in finding good trading opportunities.
The third point that you should keep in mind is how good the customer service of the platform is. This is crucial especially when you face problems while placing orders or transferring funds to and from your account.
Last but not the least, you should also pay attention to the user-friendliness of the terminal, that is, how easy it is to place orders via terminal and if all the necessary information is being displayed on the terminal or not. I personally like the Kite terminal of Zerodha, which in my opinion is the cleanest, fastest and the most user friendly platform.
Conclusion:
With rising awareness about trading and investing, digitization and better penetration of internet, it has become far easier to start investing in stock market.
Discount brokers have completely revolutionized the stock broking industry, it has also lead to many business model innovation which were not seen in the past many years.
With rising competition among discount brokers, many of them often start a new campaign almost every month, trying to attract new clients. While some offer zero account opening charges, there are some others who also offer referral programs to their clients and even brokerage cashback.
This rising competition among discount brokers has pushed them to innovate faster and give better customer support to their clients and hence traders and investors are able to enjoy better trading facilities and experience better services.
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