A Demat account is one of the basic requirements to trade online. A Demat account allows investors to convert physical shares into the dematerialized format and hold them in electronic form.

Apart from shares, the Demat account can also hold bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, gold bonds, and other similar assets with a unique ISIN number.

All your investments are held in an electronic form, which reduces paperwork.

• Eliminates all the risks associated in dealing with physical shares like physical damage or misplacement.

• Ensures the safety of your stocks with no storing risks.

• Supports Quick share transfer.

• Allows faster transaction, resulting in quick credit for investors.

For Individuals, documents required include:

• PAN Card

• Address Proof (Aadhaar Card preferred)

• Proof of Bank Details

• Income Proof (For derivatives & currency segment)

• Signature (on blank white paper)

Note: If bank verification fails, bank proof is mandatory to submit.

If you are opening an online A/c with us, then once your documents are successfully verified and e-Sign is done, your A/c will be activated within 1 hour. You would receive a welcome email to your registered email id once your account is activated.

If you have applied for an offline A/c opening and sent across your application along with the documents, it generally takes 24 hours for your account to be activated. Any discrepancies in the submitted forms or documents would delay the account opening process.

You can open All-in-one Investment Account. This is the right choice for you if you wish to invest in stocks directly as well as invest in mutual funds. You get a Trading A/c + Mutual Funds + Demat A/c. You can also open Only Mutual A/c, if you wish to invest only in Mutual Funds.

No, Demat account is not needed for Mutual Fund investments of any kind including SIP. It is compulsory only for trading in stock market.

It is advisable to get the allotment of an IPO in demat form as the shares issued are tradable only in the demat form. However, an investor has the option to apply and receive the shares in physical form. In any case, for all IPO of any security of issue size of Rs. 10 crore or more, issues have to be compulsorily be only in dematerialized form.