Transaction costs - NRI

Dear All,

This forum has been a valuable source of information for me. I thank you all for participating.

I am an NRI trading through SBIsmart and the following is the issue at hand I want to understand:

Lets say I BUY 134 shares of a company at Rs 349.71 each.

The following is what I pay as transaction costs deducted from my_ trading A/c balance:_

Brokerage: 234.5

STT: 47

Service Tax: 28.98

Stamp Charges: 4.69

Transaction charges: 1.71

The following is what I pay as transaction costs as mentioned in the NRE Bank statement:

DEBIT COMM,S.TAX… XXXXXXXX 000: 263

Hence, total transaction costs of : 578.99 on a trade value of 46,861 (134*349.71)

Which is: 1.24%!!!

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In India I used to pay 0.75% as brokerage.Is 1.24% brokerage normal for NRIs or I am overpaying?

Thank you.

Dear Sushil,

I have opened a PIS a/c through HDFC Bank. As per RBI rules every NRI can operate in the secondary markets only through a PIS (Portfolio Investment Scheme) a/c. The transactions need to be reported to the RBI on a daily basis among other rules, which is taken care of by the PIS a/c. There is some brokerage/commission for the PIS a/c and also some brokerage by the broker. In my case I have a savings NRE a/c with HDFC Bank and an a/c with HDFC securities. They charge 75 bps (0.75%) basic brokerage. Including taxes, etc. it comes upto 95.7 bps. That’s hefty in my opinion, but convenient and playing by the rules. I think most brokers open a demat a/c for you but not a PIS a/c.

For comparision, I used to pay 25 bps (30 bps including taxes, etc.) when I was residing in India.

Thank you Chintan,

Your reply was very helpful. So, if I compare against HDFC I am paying around 30bps more.

I have my NRE/NRO/Home Loan with SBI, hence preferred them for the PIS A/c. Will decide in my next portfolio review if the hassle of moving to a new broker will be worth the 30bps.

Thank you.

Yes, it’s quite some hassle to shift accounts as an NRI. Would love to hear from anyone paying less than 95 bps.

i have a share trading and demat account with india infoline and PIS account with AXIS bank.

India infoline charges brokerage of 0.3 % ( earlier it was 0.4 % , you have to negotiate ).

For PIS account axis bank charges a flat charge of abt Rs 150 per transaction.

So, I have a resident share trading account in my wife’s name also, short term bets, small bets and illiquid scrips i buy in that account to avoid high fixed charges. The disadvantage is I cannot adjust my short term losses of wife’s account with my NRI account and vice versa. But its not hurting me much as most of the buys are long term.

I am disclosing both the accounts in my income tax filing.

If I remember correctly the share trading charges of Axis bank will be less than Hdfc.

another disclosure, my wife is housewife, she is not filing income tax, the source of money in her share account is my NRI account, so that is why I have to include it ( and also her bank accounts) in my income tax filing and have to pay applicable tax on the generated income.

I have a trading account with Geojit and PSI with Axis Bank. Geojit takes 0.75% brokerage and Axis bank charges Rs.110 for each transaction and total works out to 1.25%.

Is it compulsory to file income tax return even if an individual ( resident ) has only long term capital gains from equity investing? There is no tax liability .

Just happened to see your post after a long time.

You need to file tax returns in India if your “taxable income” in India is above a certain limit.

Since there is no tax liability in your case, you don’t need to file returns.

i think you are paying normal brokerage charges in NRI segment … all other brokers charge with the nominal fee. :relaxed:

I have recently opened account with tradeplus online and I can do equity intraday FandO with them for NRO.No other broker in india allows that

Hi All,

Any one used PRoStcocks for NRE PIS Account…Please let me know your review if you used it…Zerodha charging hell lot of money for each script…I can not afford that

Hello… I am using HDFC Securities as NRI… however i guess nobody other than Zerodha is providing Smallcase integration to NRI. If smallcase is a priority then first please check with IIFL and confirm… Other thing as most PMS have thier own smallcase now… it makes sense to go for smallcase rather than park huge sums (atleast 50lac all at once with same PMS)… do inform us if IIFL also supporting NRI smallcase… i am also planning to shift…

Hi,
I am using ICICI direct’s prepaid plan. I pay 0.35% as brokerage.

If you pay higher amount for the prepaid plan the lower will be the brokerage. I think it can go as low as 0.25%.

You can also look at ICICI Direct NRI Prime Plan. If you do lot of buying selling then you can go for it. Delivery brokerage can go down to .2% depending upon which slab you choose. NRI Prime Plan.