How to Open a Demat and Trading Account at Zerodha?
Sometime back, I wrote a detailed review about Zerodha bringing pros and cons of the largest stock broker of India. Barring few factors, they have lots of positives which made me to consider opening account with Zerodha way back in 2012.
If you too have made up your mind to open Zerodha demat account, in this post you will get answer for your query that is how to open demat account in Zerodha?. You will get detailed step by step procedure to open Zerodha account with screenshots of each step.
Below button will directly take you to the Zerodha account opening page.
Why should you Open Demat Account in Zerodha?
There are many brokers available in India to open demat account. But I myself has account with Zerodha since 2012 and highly satisfed. I used to trade using Sharekhan before that but brokerage was high. Once I switched to Zerodha, I never thought about any other broker.
Though started as a startup in 2010, by 2018 it overtook likes of ICICI Direct and Sharekhan to become largest stock broker in terms of number of customers. I was also concerned in 2012 as they were new. But now I am happy that I made good decision.
Zerodha has also won many awards such as:
- National Stock Exchange- “Retail Brokerage of the Year Award -2018 & 2019”
- Economic Times Startup of the year Award
- Outlook Money “Retail Broker of the Year Awar 2017”
- Earnt & Young “Enterprenuer of the Year Award 2017”
Advantages of Opening Demat Account With Zerodha
By opening demat account at Zerodha, you will have many benefits. I have listed some of them below,
- You pay Rs0(Zero) brokerage for all the investments, including mutual funds
- Rs20 or 0.03% whichever is lower for Intraday trades (So brokerage is capped max at Rs20 irrespective of traded value)
- No.1 stock broker in India hence trust and reputation
- No need for any upfront deposit or any commitment
- Single and easy to understand plan for all customers
- 1200+ support team for your queries via email & phone
- Zero debt and profitable company from day one – hence your funds are totally safe
- Easy to use and minimalist trading platform and app.
How to Open Demat Account in Zerodha?
To open demat account in Zerodha online, you can sign up using your mobile number at Zerodha website. You will receive the OTP and you can get started with account opening. For opening the account online, you should have your Aadhaar number linked with a mobile number since you will get OTP to validate your application. For offline account opening, it is not required.
Before going through each steps involved in Zerodha account opening, lets see what are the documents required to open the demat account and also the account opening charges
Open Zerodha Demat Account – Documents required :
Here is the list of documents are required to open demat account with Zerodha.
- Pan Card
- Aadhaar Card
- Cancelled Cheque/Bank Passbook/Bank Statement (One month)
- Your signature on white paper (take photo of that from your mobile)
- Income proof* (Optional) (only if you wish to trade in derivatives) (Form 16/ 6 month’s Bank statement)
Zerodha Account Opening Charges:
Account opening charges are different depending upon if the account is opened Online or Offline.
| Segment | If Opened Online | If Opened Offline |
| Equity | Rs 200 | Rs 400 |
| Commodity (Optional) | Rs 100 | Rs 200 |
Why more charges for opening the account offline? It is because it takes more effort from Zerodha team. Online method is automated and involves no human effort. I have explained how to open Zerodha demat account offline at the end of this post.
But I suggest you to open the account online and save Rs300. Also, with online chances of you doing mistake is less as you do while filling up the physical forms and hence less chances of rejection.
Please note, Commodity segment is optional. If you dont want to trade in commodities like gold, silver and copper etc and want to simply invest in shares, I suggest you to select only equity segment.
By doing this, you will save Rs100. And if you wish to open commodity segment anytime in future, it can be done by paying Rs100 later also.
SaveRs200: you can save Rs200 by opening the account online. Use below Link to save Rs 200.
How to open Demat Account with Zerodha (Online) – Faster method:
In this method, you can open Zerodha demat account Online which is faster compared to offline method.
The process looks complicated, but believe me, it will not take more than 20 minutes.
First step in opening Zerodha demat account is to visit the account opening page using the below button.
Enter your mobile number and validate it using OTP. All the instructions are clearly explained at each page and you just need to follow it, upload the document and esign it and your account will be opened.
If you facing issue at any step, you can refer my step by step instructions about Zerodha account opening below.
But before that, it is important to understand about Digilocker as we are going to use it in online process.While opening demat account in Zerodha, it will ask you to connect with your Digilocker account.
Dont get scared by fancy name. It is just another way of validating yourself and it is 100% safe.
Digilocker – Quick Introduction:
Opening online demat account with Zerodha involves Aadhaar. It is required to share our Aadhaar details with Zerodha. But sharing scan copy of Aadhaar is not valid. It has to be shared through government approved methods.
The SEBI approved method is to open a Digilocker account and then share Aadhaar with Zerodha.
Now, What is “Digilocker’?
DigiLocker is a “digital locker” service operated by the Government of India that enables Indian citizens to store certain official documents online. It is a part of Digital India initiative and 100% safe.
If you have digilocker app on your mobile, you can store your driving license and RC book in it and show to traffic police. It is considered as good as original documents. (He will not accept if you show him photo of the documents taken from your mobile camera)
Detailed step-by-step procedure to open account with Zerodha online
Now that you got the basic idea about how to open demat account in Zerodha, let’s go through each step in detail.
I have tried to provide screen shots where ever possible to make it easy to follow.
Step 1: Visit Zerodha Website to provide basic contact details
You can use the below button to visit their website.
Step 2: Submit your Mobile Number & Verify with OTP
Once you enter your mobile number, an One Time Password (OTP) is sent to your mobile number. Enter the OTP to proceed to next screen.
Step 3: Enter and Verify Email Id
In the next screen, enter your full name and email id.
Please enter the email id that you are going to use in future as all the furure correspondence will be sent to this email id.
Once you click “Continue”, you will get an OTP to your email id.
Enter the OTP in next screen and complete the email id verification process.
Step 4: Enter PAN number and Date of Birth
PAN card is mandatory to open account with any stock broker. Enter the PAN number and your date of birth to start the application.
Step 5: Pay Account Opening Fees
Next step is to pay the account opening charges. You can pay the charges through Netbanking or debit/Credit card and also through UPI.
You can pay through anybody’s UPI/netbanking, like your friend’s or relatives. It is not mandatory to pay through your own account.
Zerodha account opening charges as I mentioned above are as follows: ( You can visit this post to know more about Zerodha Account opening Charges, AMC charges etc)
- Equity and Currency : Rs 200
- Commodity : Rs 100
Advantage of opening Zerodha account online is, a direct savings of Rs 300 and no hassles of paperwork, courier etc.
Step 6: Share you Aadhaar through Digilocker with Zerodha
Note : This step is is applicable only if you have not done KYC with any other financial institutions (Like banks or another broker etc). If you are alredy KYC verified person, this step is skipped automatically.
Now it is the time to share the Aadhar details with Zerodha. As explained previously, you can store your Aadhaar details in digilocker. In this step, you need to share the details with Zerodha.
If you already have Digilocker Account and linked your Aadhaar card, then simply click on “Connect to Digilocker”
If you don’t have Digilocker account, still click on “Connect to Digilocker”. A pop up window will open, in that window, at the bottom there will be a “Sign up” button. After entering your mobile number, Click on that.
- You will receive an OTP. Enter it and click ‘Verify’
- Select your Username & Password
- As soon as you set a Username & Password, Digilocker asks to link your Aadhaar to the account.
- After that click on “Issued Documents” tab and select Aadhaar and then click on “Share” to share it with Zerodha
Step 7: Provide your Background Details
Provide your personal information such as:
- Mother’s name
- Marital Status
- Occupation
- Trading Experience
- Annual income
After providing the necessary information, press “Continue”
Step 8: Provide your Bank Details
The next step is to provide your bank details.
Once your account is opened, fund transfer to your trading account is permitted only through this bank account. So if you have more than one bank account, think and decide which bank account you want to link. (Offcourse you can change in future, but again you need to submit bank account change request).
Step 9: Complete the In Person Verification (IPV)
In Person Verification (IPV) is a mandatory step prescribed by SEBI. Stock broker needs to confirm that he has verified the customer in person in realtime. ( This is to avoid the opening account in the name of fake (Benami) persons).
In this step, the screen will display an OTP. You need to write down the OTP on a piece of paper and hold it in front of the webcam or mobile camera.
NOTE: You need to allow camera of your phone/webcam to start the IPV process. Without this process, IPV will not complete.
Hold the paper with OTP infront of the camera as shown in the below reference image .
Click on “Start IPV”, and then click on “Take Video” and finally on “SAVE IPV”.
Step 10: Upload the Supporting Documents
Upload the scanned copies of the documents to support your details,
- Either Cancelled Cheque or Bank Statement (Should have account number, IFSC Code and MICR Code)
- Signature copy (Sign on a white paper, take picture and upload)
- Income Proof (Optional, but mandatory if you wish to trade in Futures and Options Segment) – Bank statement of 6 months /Form 16
After uploading all documents, click “Continue”
Step 11: E-Sign application form with Aadhaar
Next step is sign the application form with the scanned signature copy. For that Aadhaar based OTP is used.
Click one the “E-Sign” button as shown below
Step 11-a:
It will ask you verify your email first as shown below. Choose Gmail (Red button) if yours is gmail or blue button if you use any other email than gmail.
Step 11-b:
Once the email verification done, it will open NSDL page in which you have to provide your 12 digit Aadhaar number
Dont forget to tick the check box at the top which starts with “I here by..”
Otherwise the “Send OTP” button will not get enabled..
Step 11-c:
Enter the OTP recieved on linked mobile number as shown in below image and press “Verify OTP”
Step 11-d:
Once you enter the correct OTP, below window will open and now you have to press “Sign Now” button.
Step 11-e:
This completes the esigning for Equity segment. Now if you have opted for the commodity segment also, then you have to repeat the steps 11-b, 11-c and 11-d again for commodity segment.
So basically, you have to do esign twice if you have opted for equity and commodity. It will prompt you to do it accordingly.
Step 12:
If the esign is complete, a green screen will appear as below. This is the confirmation that Esigning is now successfully completed.
Step 13: Finish the last step
Once the Esigning step is complete, you can check out your filled form for your reference, if you wish.
Click on the “Finish” button to complete the account opening process.
Step 14: Receive Client ID and Password
This completes the Zerodha demat account opening process. A “Congratulations” message is displayed indicating you have succssfully opened your demat account at Zerodha.
Wait for two working day for account activation. After that you will receive a email with login credentials. It will also contain the instruction on how to login in.
Your completely filled application form is also sent to your registered email id.
Step 15: Sign and send Nomination forms
Now your account is active and it is 100% ready for trading. There is not limitation.
However, your account will not have nomination. Adding nomination is unfortunatley a offline process.
Nomination is not mandatory, however based on my personal experience, I strongly recommend you to provide nomination to your account.
You need to download and print the nomination form. Fill and sign it and send it to below address.
Here is the link to download the Zerodha Nomination Form.
Zerodha,
#153/154 4th Cross Dollars Colony,
Opp. Clarence Public School,
J.P Nagar 4th Phase,
Bangalore – 560078
Opening Demat Account with Zerodha (Offline) – Easy Way that takes more time:
This is the simple way to open demat account with Zerodha. But the entire process may take more than 5-6 days.
This method is suitable if,
- You are not tech savvy (that is, you do not know how to scan and upload your documents, key-in the OTPs etc)
- Don’t have much time to spend doing online work
- Do not mind spending Rs300 extra for offline processing
If you belongs to above category, then best way to open your demat account with Zerodha is to leave your contact details with their customer care.
Use below button to submit your request call back from their customer care cell. Enter your mobile number as usual and confirm it through OTP.
The sales team will contact you and get more information about your home/office address, once you submit your Name, Email and mobile number.
Then they will send one of their representatives to the address provided by you and he will come to you at your convenient time with the account opening form.
You need to provide the required documents of proofs and sign at the required places of account opening form.
The process is very simple, only drawback is it takes around 5-6 days for the activation of account.
If you want the account to be activated within 2 day and comfortable with do-it-yourself approach, then follow the steps explained in earlier section to open the demat account with Zerodha.
Procedure to open Demat Account with Zerodha : Final thoughts
Online method of opening demat account with Zerodha looks complicated. However, if you follow the steps which I have described above, it is easier and quicker than first method.
Also it eliminates most of the human interference like the sales guy, errors in filling the forms etc. Also, one can save Rs 300 by opening the account online.
Now, suppose you started the online application but weren’t able to finish that time due to some reason, then enter your mobile number again in account opening page to receive the OTP.
Once you enter the OTP, you can resume your application from the step that you last time left incomplete.
That’s about step by step procedure on how to open demat and trading account in Zerodha? . Hope it was helpful to you.