Minimum balance in a demat account
No SEBI-registered broker requires a minimum balance in your demat account in India. You can hold one share or zero shares; the account stays open as long as you pay the annual maintenance charge (AMC). The confusion usually comes from mixing up the demat account with the trading account and bank account — each has different rules. Here is the clean version.
Demat account — no minimum balance
The demat account is custody — it holds shares, ETFs and bonds. There is no minimum balance requirement because there is no balance in the conventional sense; it holds securities, not money. Whether you have 1,000 shares or 0 shares, the account stays open as long as the AMC is paid each year.
This is true across every SEBI-registered broker — Zerodha, Groww, Upstox, Dhan, Angel One, ICICI Direct, HDFC Securities, all of them.
What people often confuse it with
Three things often get conflated with "minimum balance":
- Trading account funding — to place a trade, you need money in the trading account ledger to cover the trade value + statutory charges + brokerage. This is not a "minimum balance" — it is the value of the order you want to place.
- Linked bank account minimum — some banks (rarely) have minimum balance requirements on the savings account that funds your trading. That is a bank rule, not a demat rule.
- Margin requirement for F&O — F&O trades require margin (SPAN + Exposure) in your trading account. Again, this is per-trade, not a standing minimum.
AMC continues whether or not you have a balance
The annual maintenance charge (AMC) on your demat account is independent of holdings. You pay AMC each year as long as the account is open — even if it holds zero shares. The only way to stop AMC is to formally close the account.
BSDA — ₹0 AMC for small investors
If your demat holdings stay below ₹4 lakh, SEBI mandates that brokers offer a Basic Services Demat Account (BSDA) at ₹0 AMC. Between ₹4 lakh and ₹10 lakh holdings, BSDA AMC is ₹100 + GST. Above ₹10 lakh, BSDA does not apply and the regular AMC kicks in.
BSDA is your right under SEBI regulation. If you have a single demat account with low holdings, ask the broker to convert to BSDA — most do not promote it because the AMC drops.
Dormant demat accounts
If you do not transact for an extended period (typically 12 months on most brokers), the demat account is flagged dormant. AMC still applies. To revive a dormant account, you complete a re-KYC. The holdings remain safe throughout — they sit with the depository, not the broker.
Frequently asked
What people ask about minimum balance in a demat account.
No. You can open a demat account with zero balance and hold it empty for as long as you pay AMC. Most discount brokers charge ₹0 to open the account.
No. The account stays active as long as you pay the AMC each year. Holdings can be zero. After extended inactivity the account may go dormant — but holdings stay safe and a re-KYC reactivates it.
There is no minimum from the broker side. You need enough to buy at least one unit of whatever you want — one share (which can be ₹50 to ₹50,000+ depending on stock) or one mutual fund SIP (typically ₹100–₹500 minimum). Brokerage and statutory charges add ₹15–₹40 to each trade.
No standing minimum, but you need enough in the trading account ledger to cover the buy you want to place plus charges. Funds can be added via UPI or net banking at any time.
The broker debits the AMC from your trading account ledger. If the ledger is empty, it accrues as a debit balance that gets cleared from your next funding or sale proceeds. If unpaid for long enough the account is suspended; SEBI rules let the broker eventually close it, transferring any holdings to a depository-held suspense account.