What is brokerage?
Brokerage is the fee your broker charges for executing your order on the stock exchange. Every time you place a buy or sell order, the broker charges a fee. It is charged per order — so a round trip (buy + sell) involves two brokerage charges.
India has two types of brokers: discount brokers (flat fee or zero) and full-service brokers (percentage-based). The difference in cost can be dramatic.
Types of brokerage structures
- Zero brokerage (delivery): Zerodha, Dhan, mStock — ₹0 on delivery trades. The broker makes money on F&O and intraday.
- Flat fee: ₹10–₹20 per order regardless of trade size. Zerodha intraday (₹20), mStock intraday (₹5), Sahi (₹10 all types).
- Percentage-based: Typically 0.1%–0.5% of trade value. Full-service brokers like HDFC (0.5%), ICICI (0.25%), Kotak (0.2%).
- Hybrid: Lower of percentage or flat cap. E.g., 0.03% or ₹20, whichever is lower (Zerodha intraday, Dhan).
What brokerage costs on a ₹50,000 delivery trade
Zerodha ₹0 ₹0 buy + ₹0 sell
Dhan ₹0 ₹0 buy + ₹0 sell
mStock ₹0 ₹0 buy + ₹0 sell
Sahi ₹20 ₹10 buy + ₹10 sell
Groww ₹40 ₹20 buy + ₹20 sell (capped at ₹20)
Upstox ₹40 ₹20 flat buy + ₹20 flat sell
Kotak Securities ₹200 0.2% × ₹50,000 × 2
ICICI Direct ₹250 0.25% × ₹50,000 × 2
HDFC Securities ₹500 0.5% × ₹50,000 × 2
Important: GST is charged on top of brokerage
GST at 18% is applied to your brokerage charge. So if brokerage is ₹20 per order, you actually pay ₹20 + ₹3.60 GST = ₹23.60 per order. This matters most for flat-fee brokers.