Delivery vs Intraday Brokerage
Delivery vs intraday brokerage refers to the differential fee structures that Indian stockbrokers apply to CNC (Cash and Carry) trades held overnight versus MIS (Margin Intraday Square-off) trades closed within the session, with discount brokers charging zero delivery brokerage and a flat Rs 20 per executed order for intraday.
The distinction between delivery and intraday brokerage is commercially and operationally significant for retail investors in India. Delivery trades, placed under the CNC product code, result in shares being credited to the demat account and held indefinitely. Intraday trades, placed under MIS, are opened and closed on the same day with no physical share movement to the demat account.
Discount brokers have restructured Indian retail brokerage economics since Zerodha's entry in 2010. Zerodha charges zero brokerage on equity delivery trades — a model that Upstox, Angel One (formerly Angel Broking), Groww, and several other platforms adopted subsequently. For intraday equity trades, Zerodha charges the lower of 0.03 percent of turnover or Rs 20 per executed order. Upstox matches this structure. Angel One charges Rs 20 or 0.25 percent per order for intraday, whichever is lower, though it periodically revises its schedule.
Full-service brokers such as ICICI Direct, HDFC Securities, Kotak Securities, and Sharekhan typically charge brokerage as a percentage of turnover — commonly 0.5 percent for delivery and 0.05 percent for intraday — with minimum order charges and plan-based tiering. Their higher headline brokerage is partially offset by advisory services, research reports, relationship managers, and bundled account maintenance charges that discount brokers do not offer.
Beyond brokerage, both delivery and intraday trades attract statutory charges that are identical regardless of broker: Securities Transaction Tax (STT) at 0.1 percent on the buy and sell side for delivery (0.025 percent on the sell side only for intraday), exchange transaction charges levied by NSE and BSE, GST at 18 percent on brokerage and transaction charges, SEBI turnover fee, and stamp duty at rates that vary by state of the buyer's registered address.
For a frequent intraday trader executing, say, 20 trades per day, the flat Rs 20 per order model at a discount broker generates a cost of Rs 400 per day in brokerage — a manageable sum versus the percentage-based model at a full-service broker, which could be multiples higher on a Rs 5 lakh daily turnover. Delivery investors, conversely, benefit most from the zero-brokerage model on long-term holdings, where the savings versus a traditional broker compound significantly over a multi-year investment horizon.