Friday, June 28, 2013

What is Basic Services Demat Account (BSDA)?


Today early morning I received an email from my DEMAT Provider with a notification asking me if I would like to enroll for the Basic Services DEMAT Account (BSDA) facility. It was news to me and surprisingly this wasn’t a new development. So, I did some research and found out what exactly this Basic Services DEMAT Account was. If you have a DEMAT account, then, in all probabilities you would've already received this email or will be receiving it shortly.

The idea behind this article is to understand what this Basic Services DEMAT Account is and whether it is a useful idea for the common investor...

So, What is this Basic Services DEMAT Account?

As per SEBI guidelines under CIR/MRD/DP/22/2012 dated August 27, 2012, all DEMAT Providers are expected to offer this Basic Services DEMAT Account to their customers. The Basic Services DEMAT Account or BSDA is just a category of DEMAT Account that a customer can open if he/she meets certain criteria.

Why did SEBI Come up with this circular?

Most people who actually have a DEMAT Account don’t invest regularly in stocks, mutual funds or other Market Instruments. Unfortunately, your Annual Maintenance Charges will still be debited/deducted from your bank account irrespective of whether you use your account or not. The Market Regulator SEBI Felt that majority of DEMAT Account holders don’t really use their accounts as much as they should and still end up paying high fees. So, to help out such investors they came up with this circular which directs DEMAT providers to charge considerably lower fee for customers who aren’t active users of their accounts.

So, Who can open a basic service Demat account?

Any Individual who currently has a Demat account or plans to open a fresh Demat account can use this facility. If the value of securities (All stocks, mutual funds, bonds etc.) held in your account is less than Rs. 2 lakh then you are eligible to either convert your existing account or select this as your choice while opening your new account.

What is the Fee Structure?

1. Customers having Demat holding from Rs. 0 to Rs. 50,000 will not be charged any Fee
2. Customers having Demat holding value of Rs, 50,001 to Rs. 2 lakh will be charged Rs. 100 as Annual Fee

What Happens if the value of my DEMAT Holding crosses these limits?

In case you open a Basic Services Demat Account and start transacting, until you reach the 50,000 rupees mark your Demat Provider (will refer as DP going forward) will not charge you any fee. However, once it crosses the Rs. 50,000/- limit the DP will charge you an annual fee of Rs. 100/- and once your balance crosses the 2 Lakh limit he will start charging you the standard rate that the DP charges other customers.

For ex: The Average Charge that ICICI Charges its customer starts at around Rs. 500/- and goes upwards depending on the services you opt for. Until my account holding crosses the 2 lakh limit my annual fee will be Rs. 100/- and the moment it crosses this limit, my DP will start charging me the full-fee on a pro-rata basis.

What Benefit Do I Get out of this?

The fee is only a few hundred rupees every year, so you may feel that it is insignificant. But, if you take my case as an example - During the first 2-3 years of my investing career my portfolio in my DEMAT Account never cross Rs. 50,000/- but still I was paying the annual fee. I was a cautious retail investor who never invested more than a few thousand rupees here & there in the stock market. As years went by and my confidence grew my portfolio value went up and crossed the Rs. 50,000/- mark only by the 4th or even the 5th year. So, during all these years the fee of around 500-600 that I paid every year was too much, wasn’t it?

This is exactly what SEBI wants to address - For a small retail investor this much fee doesn’t make sense because they are not really using all the services offered by the DP. So, what better way than to reduce fees and charges for the investor?

Lastly - Who decides this holding value against the limits?

The DP is at his discretion to calculate your portfolio holdings net-value after every trading day and then compare against the limits. The moment your portfolio value crosses the limits they can charge you the fees based on the slab you fall into, on a pro-rata basis.


Some Last Words:

Remember that - An individual shall have only one BSDA in his/her name across all DP's. You cannot have one BSDA with ICICI with holdings less than 2 lakhs and one more with HDFC for the same 2 lakh limit for the Rs. 100/- fee. If found, both DP's will charge you the full fee. Why pay double fee when you can do it with just one DP.

If you are thinking who will notice if you have two BSDA Accounts, think of this: The DP Gets extra fee from you if they find that you have more than one BSDA. They also ask for your PAN details when the account is opened. So, do you think the DP will be so careless and let you get away with such actions??

Hope you found this article useful...

Happy Investing!!!

31 comments:

  1. Thanks for the info. This is really useful. Can I open so separate Demat account on my wife's name with this offer? She already has joint account with me at icici.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, she cannot. She can go out of this joint account with you and then apply for one BSDA separately.

      Anand

      Delete
  2. As I am not having any investment in shares till date, i am interested in opening the BSDA A/C. As per the statement " If the value of securities (All stocks, mutual funds, bonds etc.) held in your account" i needed a clarification on that, i have invested in Mutual funds online through FundsIndia where the amount exceeds 50K but is less than 2L, hence while opening this account will i fall in the category of (0-50K) or (above 50K to 2L).

    ReplyDelete
  3. My DP wants me to pay Rs. 1021.21 for 2 year AMC. I have not done a SINGLE transaction in these 2 years.

    Can I convert this account into BSDL and ask for a fee waiver? If they refuse, can I complain to sebi?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous - You need to pay the money for the past years even though you did not do any transactions. You can get it converted and get the fee waiver for future years. If you ask and they refuse you cannot complain because you signed an agreement with your DP to pay him a minimum fee each year no matter what because your account is a regular account.

      Delete
  4. Thanks for this info. It's very useful for a new investor like me. I need one more information in this regard. I just opened a HDFC Demat Account and planning to submit them the BSDA form. Can I add my existing Mutual Funds/SIP here? The reason is - I want to keep all my investments in a single place to track them easily and sell them online in future (if required). Will it be counted within Rs. 50,000 limit?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. Any existing investment in your name will be counted towards the limits for BSDA

      Delete
  5. What do Fees under the heads Dematerialisation (Certificate+Request), Rematerialisation (Request), Pledge Services, Debt Transaction, Equity Transaction mean mentioned in BSDA Application Form of HDFC Bank?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Santanu - I do not understand the Question fully. All DEMAT Providers charge for transactions like Dematerialization or Rematerialization etc. So, such heads usually tell the new customer how much fee he/she would need to pay for those services.

      Talk to the customer service rep in the branch. they can help you.

      Delete
  6. Hi Anand,
    I came to know about BSDA account for trading, but in this account they told some charges apart from brokerage, i would like to know what it mean?, will it exceed the normal demat charges?.

    Charge List
    -------
    1. Transaction charges Market/Off Market/ Interdepository Transactions --- Rs 50 flat + depositary charges at actuals

    2. Pledge Charges Creation/Closure and Confirmation of both ---- min 25 or 0.02% + depositary charges at actuals

    3. Pledge Charges for Invocation ---- min 25 or 0.02% + depositary charges at actuals

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous - Yes, the charges will be higher if you actually use the BSDA for your daily trading because this is a type of DEMAT account for people who dont trade much. This is for people who make transactions once in 2-3 months or later. If you intend on trading regularly, open a regular DEMAT account. It will be cheaper.

      Delete
  7. Which BSDA is good...
    HDFC or AXIS or ICICI ??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All BSDA Accounts and their facilities are similar in terms of fees or services.so, choose one based on your personal preference

      Delete
  8. I have a BSDA Account. can I open another normal account?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, you cannot. If you open a new demat account, this BSDA Account may get converted into a regular account too

      Delete
  9. This is not clear that BSDA account is based on transaction value of stocks or holding value of stocks in one financial year......if i buy stocks amounting 49,000/- starting week of a month and sell them on last week of month....so next month my holding become zero...then i again buy stocks below 49000/- again i sell them in the end of the month,I repeat it many times in a financial year.......then can i also eligible for NIL charges of AMC??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anoynymous - Per the guidelines, the value of your holdings is taken into account. you can wish to buy/sell frequently but as long as the value of your holdings dont cross the 50k limit, I dont think the service provider will charge you. An important point here is - if you buy stocks for 49k value, if the share prices increase during the course of the month, your investment would have crossed the 50k limit. Its not the amount you buy for. Its the value of your investment.

      Anyways, Note that you can only have one BSDA Acc. You cannot try this trick with multiple DEMAT Accounts.

      Delete
  10. Hi Anand,

    Thanks for very good article. I read the following in one of the sites, one customer mentioned that, once his BSDA account crossed Rs. 50,000 and when he wanted to sell some securities he was charged with more DP charges for the transaction instead of the normal brokerage charges, apart from the Rs. 100 AMC. Is that possible? how to avoid this?

    Please let us know. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Once you cross the BSDA limits, how much your service provider charges you is dependent on the place. Usually banks charge hefty fees because they charge very low fee for BSDA accounts because the government is forcing them and the service isnt much profitable for them

      Delete
  11. Can we do online trading while having a BSDA account? I opened a Trinity account with Kotak (i.e. Savings Bank a/c + Online trading a/c + Demat a/c linked to each other) but I don't trade much. I asked Kotak Bank to convert my demat a/c from regular to BSDA type but they are telling me that once demat a/c is converted to BSDA type it is not possible to do online trading. Trading in BSDA demat a/c can only be done by submitting paper forms/slips. Should I file a complaint against them and where should I file it. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The amount you transact in trading determines whether you can actually have a BSDA or not. If you think are eligible and the bank (Kotak) isnt helping you intentionally, you can file a complaint with SEBI

      Delete
  12. Nice post. 1 query here... Say, I open a BSDA with one DP and subsequently, I want to shift to another DP. Is that possible? Will I be able to close my current BSDA (with the existing DP) and then open another BSDA with a new DP of my choice (subject to my total holding not exceeding Rs. 2 lakhs, obviously)? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes you can. I think it should be ok as long as at any point there is only one ACTIVE BSDA Acc

      Delete
  13. I already have a demat account with Geojit BNP Paribas. Is it possible to convert the existing account to BSDA ? If so, how and by whom ?
    -Sree

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. contact Geojit BNP Paribas and if your account meets the BSDA criteria, they can convert your account into a BSDA acc

      Delete
  14. Hi,
    I opened BSDA in HDFC bank. Is it possible for me to open a regular account in another brokerage firm?
    If not, do I have to close this BSDA and open a fresh regular account in any brokerage firm?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can only have that one BSDA Account and cannot open another acc with another firm. If you want you can close this acc and open a regular acc or ask HDFC to convert this to a regular acc and then open multiple accounts with other firms

      Delete
  15. Hi there, thanks for the useful article.
    But one quarrie here can I map a BSAD in more than one trading account?

    ReplyDelete

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