Nearly 60 per cent of equity investors will benefit from the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) move to introduce the Basic Service Demat Account (BSDA), Chairman U K Sinha said today.
Speaking at the launch of CAMSKRA, a KYC Registration Agency, Sinha said, “Our analysis shows nearly 60 per cent of investors will benefit. Around 50 per cent of the demat account holders will not have to pay any charges, while the rest 10 per cent will pay just nominal charges.”
Sebi had yesterday directed all depository participants (DPs) to provide a no-frills demat account, BSDA, which will have substantial lower costs and will come with basic services. BSDAs will have no annual maintenance charges if the value of securities held in the account is less than Rs 50,000. If the value of securities is between Rs 50,000 and Rs 2 lakh, the investor will have to pay an annual charge of Rs 100.
As on August 25, there were about 20 million demat accounts in the country.
