Brokerage Calculator

What you actually pay on a trade

When most retail traders think about "brokerage", they mean only the cut taken by the broker itself. In reality, the total cost of a single round-trip trade in Indian equity is a stack of six distinct line items, only one of which the broker actually controls:

1. Brokerage — set by the broker. Discount brokers like Zerodha, Upstox, Angel One, 5Paisa, Groww, and Dhan generally charge either a flat fee per executed order (₹20 is the de-facto standard) or a small percentage of turnover, capped at ₹20. Equity delivery is free at several brokers (Zerodha, Dhan).
2. Securities Transaction Tax (STT) — central government tax. Rates vary by segment and side. The most significant for delivery investors is 0.1% on both buy and sell, which compounds to 0.2% on a complete round-trip.
3. Exchange transaction charges — charged by NSE and BSE on every executed trade. Approximately 0.00297% of turnover for cash equity, much higher for options (~0.035% on premium turnover).
4. SEBI turnover charges — ₹10 per crore of turnover (0.0001%). Small in absolute terms but applies to all segments.
5. Stamp duty — state government tax on the buy side only. 0.015% for delivery, 0.003% for intraday, and lower rates for futures and options.
6. GST (18%) — Goods and Services Tax applied on the sum of brokerage, exchange charges, and SEBI charges.

Why the cheapest broker by brokerage is not always cheapest overall

For a small trade — say 10 shares of a ₹1000 stock — the absolute difference in brokerage between a ₹0-delivery broker and a ₹20-flat broker is just ₹40 on a round-trip. STT and other statutory charges are an order of magnitude larger. So the "cheapest" broker on brokerage often becomes irrelevant once you include the statutory stack.

For larger trades or active intraday accounts, the picture flips. A 0.05% intraday brokerage on ₹10 lakh turnover is ₹500 per side — vs ₹20 flat. Across hundreds of trades a month, that gap is material. The calculator above lets you stress-test both extremes.

Notes on individual brokers

• Zerodha— pioneered ₹0 equity delivery in India. ₹20 flat (or 0.03% of turnover, whichever is lower) for intraday and F&O. Zerodha discontinued its non-Authorized Person referral program in August 2024, so we have no affiliate arrangement with them.
• Upstox — affordable across segments, strong mobile app, our highest-converting affiliate partner among beginners.
• Angel One — full-service broker with discount pricing. ₹20 flat across most segments. Tier 2 and Tier 3 city footprint is a competitive advantage.
• 5Paisa — flat ₹20 across all segments including equity delivery on the basic plan. Subscription plans (e.g. ₹599/month) reduce per-order cost further for high frequency.
• Groww — built primarily as a mutual fund app, now a serious equity broker. Clean UX, popular with first-time investors.
• Dhan — built for active traders. ₹0 equity delivery, advanced order types, options strategy builder.

Related tools and reading

Pair this calculator with our LTCG calculator to model the full post-tax outcome of a delivery trade. Detailed individual broker reviews and side-by-side comparison pages will be added under /brokers in upcoming updates.

This page is educational only and does not constitute investment advice. Some links to broker websites on EquitiesIndia.com are affiliate links and we may earn a commission if you open an account through them. We never let affiliate relationships influence the cost data shown in this calculator — the rate cards are reproduced as-published.