If you’re a college student or young investor who opened an account on Zerodha, Angel One, or traditional brokers, check your quarterly account statements right now.
Historically, brokers billed investors up to ₹300 to ₹500 + GST every year just to keep a Demat account open. For a student investing ₹2,000 to ₹10,000, that single annual charge could wipe out an entire year of stock market profits.
Under SEBI’s refined BSDA mandate, depository participants (CDSL and NSDL) must classify accounts as zero-maintenance if holdings stay under ₹4,00,000. Even if your portfolio grows between ₹4 Lakh and ₹10 Lakh, your AMC is legally capped at a maximum of just ₹100 + GST per year. Most importantly, brokers are required to automatically apply this status at the end of every quarter unless you explicitly opt out.
You can only hold one BSDA account across all depositories in India. If you have only one Demat account and your balance is under ₹4 Lakh, verify that your broker has tagged it as BSDA so you never pay a single rupee in AMC again.
📎 Source: Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) — Comprehensive BSDA Framework Circular
