What Is Demat Account?
We all know about savings accounts with banks. It allows easy access to our funds while offering security from theft and mishandling. A Demat account does the same for investors. Nowadays, the Demat account is a prerequisite for stock investment.
Demat Account is an account that is used to hold shares and securities in electronic format. The full form of Demat account is a dematerialised account. The purpose of opening a Demat account is to hold shares that have been bought or dematerialised (converted from physical to electronic shares), thus making share trading easy for the users during online trading.
In India, depositories such as NSDL and CDSL provide Free Demat account services. Intermediaries, depository participants or stockbrokers – like SAP INFOTAIMENT SOLUTION PVT. LTD.– facilitate these services. Each intermediary may have Demat account charges that vary as per volume held in the account, type of subscription, and terms and conditions between a depository and a stockbroker
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Why Need Demat account?
A Demat Account or Dematerialised Account provides the facility of holding shares and securities in an electronic format. During online trading, shares are bought and held in a Demat Account, thus, facilitating easy trade for the users. A Demat Account holds all the investments an individual makes in shares, government securities, exchange-traded funds, bonds and mutual funds in one place.
Demat enabled the digitisation process of the Indian stock trading market and enforced better governance by SEBI. In addition, the Demat account reduced the risks of storing, theft, damage, and malpractices by storing securities in electronic format. It was first introduced in 1996 by NSE. Initially, the account opening process was manual, and it took investors several days to get it activated. Today, one can open a Demat account online in 5 mins. The end-to-end digital process has contributed to popularising Demat, which skyrocketed in the pandemic.
What is dematerialisation?
Dematerialisation is the process of converting the physical share certificates into electronic form, which is a lot easier to maintain and is accessible from anywhere throughout the world. An investor who wants to trade online needs to open a Demat with a Depository Participant (DP). The purpose of is to eliminate the need for the investor to hold physical share certificates and facilitating a seamless tracking and monitoring of holdings.
Earlier, the share certificate issuance process was time-consuming and cumbersome, which Demat has helped transform by speeding the entire process and storing security certificates in digital format. Once your Demat account is active, you can convert paper certificates into digital format by submitting all your physical securities along with a Dematerialisation Request Form (DRF). Also, remember to deface each physical certificate by mentioning ‘ Surrendered for Dematerialisation’ on it. You will receive an acknowledgement slip when you surrender your share certificates
Importance of Demat account
A Demat account provides a digitally secure and convenient way of holding shares and securities. It eliminates theft, forgery, loss and damage of physical certificates. With a Demat account, you can transfer securities immediately. Once the trade is approved, the shares are digitally transferred to your account. Moreover, in case events like stock bonuses, mergers, etc., you get shares automatically into your account. Your Demat account information regarding these activities is available online by simply logging into the website. You can trade on-the-go using your smartphone or desktop. So, you needn’t visit the stock exchange to transact. You also enjoy the benefit of reduced transaction costs because there is no stamp duty involved with the transfer of shares. These features and benefits of a Demat account encourage a larger trade volume by investors, thus increasing the potential for lucrative returns.
Demat account has made it easier to handle stocks. The Indian exchanges now follow the settlement cycle of T+2 days facilitated by the Demat account. You pay the seller on the second business day when you buy shares following the settlement cycle, and your Demat account gets automatically credited with the purchased securities. Demat account has made the process of security trading seamless and hassle-free.
Benefits of Demat account
- Seamless and fast transfer of shares
- Facilitates digitally secured storing of securities
- Eliminates theft, forgery, loss and damage of security certificates
- Easy tracking of trading activities
- All-time access
- Allows to add beneficiaries
- Automatic credit of bonus stocks, rights issues, split shares
How does a Demat Account work?
Trading through a Demat account is similar to the procedure of physical trading, except that a Demat account is electronic. You begin trading by placing an order through your online trading account. For this purpose, it is necessary to link both trading and Demat accounts. Once an order is placed, the exchange will process the order. Demat account details the market price of shares and the availability of shares is verified before the final processing of the order. On completion of the processing, shares are then reflected in your statement of holdings. When a shareholder wishes to sell shares, a delivery instruction note has to be provided with details of the stock. Shares are then debited from the account and the equivalent cash value is credited to the trading account.
Having a Demat account is compulsory per the Depository Act passed in 1996. To facilitate it, the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) was formed in 1996. And, the Central Depository Services Limited (CDSL) became the second such institution three years later. Together the two agencies are the custodian of all the electronic securities held by investors. They offer the Demat account opening service through various depository participants, like Angel One. Both agencies and their partner brokers are registered with SEBI.
The Demat account opening process involves three parties – your bank, the depository participant, and the depository. Tagging your bank account with your Demat account is critical for trading seamlessly. Linking your account details ensure when you buy shares, the money gets debited directly from your bank account, and when you sell, the proceeds get automatically credited.
A depository participant can be a non-banking financial institution, a bank, or a stockbroker. You would need to approach a DP to open a Demat account. The third party is obviously the depository. They hold the Demat account on your behalf.
Types of Demat account
While opening a Demat account, investors need to select a Demat account type that suits their profile carefully. The most common type is a regular Demat account. Any Indian investor or resident Indian can open a standard Demat account within a few minutes using an online account opening process. Apart from the standard Demat account, there are two other types. Let’s take a look at them.
There are two types of Demat accounts—Repatriable Demat account and Non-repatriable Demat account. Repatriable funds are deposited in a separate bank account known as the Non-Resident External Account (NRE account). Repatriable funds are those funds which can be transferred abroad. The investments made from these funds are maintained in a The Repatriable Demat account holds the investments made from repatriable funds. On the other hand, non-repatriable funds (funds which cannot be taken/transferred abroad) are deposited in a different bank account known as the Non Resident Ordinary Account (NRO account).The Non-repatriable Demat account holds the investments made from non-repatriable funds. Money can easily be transferred from an NRE to an NRO account. However, once the transfer is made, the repatriability is lost and the money cannot be transferred back to the NRE account.
- Regular Demat account: Regular Demat account is for resident Indian investors who want to trade in shares alone and need a storing for securities. The stocks get debited from your Demat account when you sell and credited when you purchase during trading. If you are trading in F&O, you don’t need a Demat account because these contracts don’t need storage.
- Basic Services Demat Account: It is a new type of Demat account introduced by the SEBI. These accounts don’t have maintenance changes if the holding value is less than Rs 50,000. Between Rs 50,000 and 2 lakh, the changes are Rs 100. The new type of account targets new investors who are yet to open a Demat account.
- Repatriable Demat Account: Non-resident Indian investors open a repatriable account to transfer their earnings from the Indian market abroad. If you want to open a repatriable account, you’ll have to close your regular Demat account in India and open a non-resident external account to receive payments.
- Non-repatriable account: This account is also for non-resident Indians, but it doesn’t allow fund transfer to foreign locations.
SEBI has made it mandatory for investors to have a Demat account. You can’t trade in the Indian stock exchange if you don’t have a Demat. Update yourself on the account opening process, charges, and select a trusted depository participant.
There is a list of documents needed to open a Demat account, including personal details and bank/income details. Here is a list of the documents required.
- Proof of identity
- Proof of address
- Proof of income
- Proof of bank account
- PAN card
- Passport size photographs
The online method has made the account opening process simple. You can now set up a Demat account by submitting documents and completing KYC online