Brokerages offer free intra-day trading to woo new investors

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 25

With average trading volume at both the BSE and the NSE having increased significantly in the past two years, the brokerage industry is devising new ways to attract investors by offering free brokerage. The latest to offer is Kotak Securities Ltd which is offering free intra-day trading. The move comes at a time when discount brokerages such as Zerodha and Finvasia have witnessed an increase in their customer base.

At present, less than 4% of Indian population has demat account as compared to 80% banking penetration. The number of demat account holders was 2.19 crore in 2016-17 which increased to 2.43 crore in 2017-18. Out of this, only 60,000 were active participants in 2016-17 and 76,000 in 2017-18. The data suggests that less than 25% of trading accounts are active.

Kotak Securities recently announced the launch of ‘Free Intra-day Trading’ — an offering that gives self-directed investors freedom from brokerage on intra-day trades across cash and futures and options segments at an annual subscription of Rs 999. Further, investors get free access to the company’s research and technology platform for seamless and secure execution of trade transactions. With the new services, the company expects the free intra-day trading would lead to ambitious organic growth charter to double its customer base in 18 months.

Suresh Shukla, executive vice-president, Broking-Acquisition, Kotak Securities Ltd., said, “Free intra-day trading removes all worries related to paying brokerage, and offers a friction-free trading experience with research and powerful technology platform. We hope to deepen and widen equity markets by encouraging more retail participation, which will further aid channelling of savings into the formal system.”

Less than 25% accounts active 

• At present, less than 4% of Indian population has demat account as compared to 80% banking penetration
• The number of demat accounts was 2.19 crore in FY17 which increased to 2.43 crore in FY18
• Out of this, only 60,000 were active participants in FY17 and 76,000 in FY18
• The data suggests that less than 25% of trading accounts are active.