Here is a thing nobody selling you a demat account will lead with: applying to an IPO is free. Every broker in India routes your IPO application through ASBA over a UPI mandate, and SEBI does not let anyone charge you for that. Zerodha, Groww, Dhan, Upstox, Angel One, your bank — the application itself costs ₹0 across the board.
So when a broker advertises "free IPO investing," they are advertising something they are legally required to give away. The cost of IPO investing was never in the application. It hides in three other places: the annual maintenance charge on the demat account that holds your allotted shares, the delivery brokerage when you sell, and a small statutory-and-depository charge on every sell that no broker escapes — not even the "zero-brokerage" ones.
This post finds the genuinely cheapest broker for two different IPO investors: the one who flips on listing day (apply, get allotment, sell the moment it lists) and the one who holds for years. The answer for both, on verified 2026 pricing, is the same broker — but the reason is different in each case, and there are two claims floating around the internet I could not verify, which I will flag honestly rather than repeat.
Every fee in this post is time-sensitive. Broker charges change often and without much notice. Each figure here was checked against the broker's own pricing page this cycle — but re-verify on the official page before you open an account or place a trade. Where a widely-repeated claim could not be confirmed, I say so plainly instead of passing it on.
First, the full cost stack an IPO investor actually pays
An IPO trade is not one fee. It is a stack. Miss any layer and your "free" broker quietly bills you. Here is the whole stack, in the order you meet it:
- IPO application (ASBA / UPI mandate) — FREE, everywhere. SEBI-mandated. This is never where the cost is.
- Account opening — one-time, ₹0 at most modern discount brokers.
- Demat AMC (annual maintenance charge) — the recurring bleed. This is the differentiator between brokers over the long run.
- Equity delivery brokerage — charged when you sell the allotted shares. Some brokers make this ₹0; several quietly do not.
- Statutory + DP charges on the sell — STT, stamp duty, exchange transaction charge, SEBI turnover fee, GST, and the DP (depository) charge. These are unavoidable and near-identical everywhere.
Before the comparison, the jargon — because the whole game is understanding which of these you can shop for and which you can't.
The five terms that decide your bill
- ASBA (Application Supported by Blocked Amount). When you apply for an IPO, the money isn't debited — it's blocked in your bank account. If you get allotted, the exact amount is debited; if not, the block is released. You keep earning interest on it while it's blocked. This mechanism is free by SEBI rule.
- UPI mandate. The modern way ASBA is executed for retail applicants — you approve a block request in your UPI app (GPay, PhonePe, etc.). Approving it costs nothing; it just authorises the bank to block the amount.
- AMC (Annual Maintenance Charge). A yearly fee to keep your demat account open — the account that stores your shares. This is the single biggest differentiator between brokers for anyone holding shares over time. A ₹300/yr AMC is ₹3,000+ over a decade of holding, on shares you already own.
- DP charge (Depository Participant charge). A flat fee charged per scrip, per sell, by the depository (CDSL or NSDL) and passed through by your broker. It applies when shares leave your demat — i.e. when you sell. It is charged even by zero-brokerage brokers, because it isn't brokerage — it's a depository fee. This is the fee nobody escapes.
- BSDA (Basic Services Demat Account). A SEBI-defined demat variant with ₹0 AMC as long as your holdings stay small — the zero-cost route for a small long-term holder. Details below; it has real conditions.
The takeaway from the stack: you can shop hard on AMC and delivery brokerage. You cannot shop at all on the statutory + DP charges — those are the same wherever you go. So a "zero-brokerage" broker that has a high AMC or a high DP charge is not actually the cheapest; it's just cheap in the one line item it chose to advertise.
Why "free IPO" is the least useful thing a broker can tell you
Read the takeaway once more, because it is the whole thesis of this post. The one part of the cost stack that every broker gives you free is the part they all advertise most loudly. "Zero-cost IPO applications" is true and worthless as a differentiator — it's like a restaurant advertising that the water is free. The bill is built from the other courses.
Applying is free because SEBI made ASBA the mandatory retail application route and forbade charging for it. So the marketing line "invest in IPOs for free" is not a feature the broker built; it's a rule the broker follows. Once you internalise that, the broker-selection question stops being "who lets me apply for free" (everyone) and becomes "who charges least on the AMC, the delivery brokerage, and the DP charge" — the three lines you actually have leverage over. Every section that follows is just working out that question carefully.
The fee nobody escapes: DP + statutory charges on every sell
When you sell your allotted IPO shares, the following get levied no matter which broker you use, because they flow to the government, the exchange, the regulator, or the depository — not to the broker:
- STT (Securities Transaction Tax) — a percentage of the sell value, set by the government.
- Stamp duty — a small percentage on the trade, set by the government.
- Exchange transaction charge — levied by NSE/BSE on turnover.
- SEBI turnover fee — a tiny per-crore levy by the regulator.
- GST — applied on the brokerage + transaction charges.
- DP charge — the flat per-scrip-per-sell depository fee (CDSL/NSDL), typically in the ₹12.50–₹20 + GST range depending on the broker.
The first five are effectively identical across every broker — nobody can discount a government tax. The only one where brokers differ is the DP charge, and even there the spread is small in absolute rupees (roughly ₹12.50 to ₹20 per sell). But for an IPO flipper who sells one scrip per listing, several listings a year, the DP charge is often the largest broker-controllable cost of the whole trade — because the brokerage itself may be ₹0.
That reframes everything. For a flipper on a zero-brokerage broker, the sell cost is essentially (unavoidable statutory taxes) + (the DP charge). So the cheapest flip broker is the one with ₹0 delivery brokerage AND the lowest DP charge. Hold that thought.
Here is the DP-and-brokerage split laid out per broker (verified this cycle; statutory taxes omitted because they're identical everywhere):
| Broker | Delivery brokerage (sell) | DP charge on sell (per scrip) |
|---|---|---|
| Dhan | ₹0 | ₹12.50 + GST (lowest verified) |
| Zerodha | ₹0 (verify) | Per official page (verify) |
| Angel One | ₹0 for 30 days, then ₹20 or 0.1% (min ₹5) | Per official page (verify) |
| Upstox | ₹20/order (reintroduced) | ₹20/scrip on sell |
| Groww | ₹20 or 0.1% (min ₹5) | ₹18.25 + GST (highest here) |
| m.Stock | ₹10/order flat (Standard) | Per official page (verify) |
The pattern: Dhan pairs ₹0 delivery with the lowest verified DP charge, which is exactly the combination a flipper wants. Groww and Upstox both charge delivery brokerage and sit at the top of the DP range — the double hit that "free IPO" marketing conveniently omits.
BSDA: the ₹0-AMC route for small long-term holders
If you plan to hold your IPO allotment for years rather than flip it, the AMC is what quietly bleeds you — a fee on shares you already own, charged every year whether you trade or not. SEBI created a specific escape hatch for small investors: the Basic Services Demat Account (BSDA).
The rule, in plain terms:
- Holdings up to ₹4 lakh → ₹0 AMC. No annual charge at all.
- Holdings between ₹4 lakh and ₹10 lakh → ₹100 + GST per year.
- Above ₹10 lakh → converts to a regular demat, standard AMC applies.
- One BSDA per person, across all depositories. You cannot hold multiple BSDA accounts to game the ₹4 lakh limit — SEBI allows exactly one, and only if you don't already hold shares in another demat as sole/first holder beyond the limit conditions.
For a small investor who buys an IPO or two and sits on them, a BSDA means the demat costs literally nothing to maintain as long as the portfolio stays under ₹4 lakh. Several brokers (Angel One and Zerodha among them) offer the BSDA route, and you often have to opt in — a standard demat won't auto-convert.
The catch worth internalising: BSDA is a small-holder tool. The moment your holdings cross ₹4 lakh you start paying, and above ₹10 lakh you're on a normal demat. If your IPO strategy is to accumulate a large long-term book, BSDA won't carry you the whole way — you'll want a broker whose standard AMC is ₹0. Which brings us to the master table.
How the free application actually works (and where people lose money anyway)
Since the application is the free part, it's worth understanding the mechanics — because the ways people do lose money around an IPO are almost never the broker's fee. They're process mistakes.
The retail flow is: you place a bid through your broker's app for a whole number of lots, the broker sends a UPI mandate to your UPI app, and you approve it before the mandate cut-off. Approving the mandate blocks the bid amount in your bank account via ASBA — the money stays yours, still earning interest, just frozen. On allotment day, if shares are allotted the exact amount is debited and the shares land in your demat a day or two before listing; if nothing is allotted, the block is released and your money frees up. No fee touches any step of this.
Where the avoidable losses actually come from:
- Missing the mandate approval window. If you don't approve the UPI mandate in time, your application never enters the running — you simply don't get considered. This is the single most common self-inflicted miss.
- Insufficient blocked balance. The full bid amount must be blockable. If the account doesn't have it, the block fails and the bid is invalid.
- Bidding below cut-off on an oversubscribed issue. Retail investors typically bid at cut-off price to maximise allotment odds; the fee has nothing to do with it, but a poorly-placed bid can cost you the allotment entirely.
- Assuming allotment. IPOs are frequently oversubscribed; retail allotment is often a lottery. You cannot plan a "guaranteed flip" — you can only plan what to do if allotted.
None of these are broker charges, and no broker is cheaper or dearer on any of them. They matter because they dwarf the fee question: losing an allotment you wanted, or getting one you can't fund, costs far more than the ₹12.50-vs-₹20 DP gap ever will. Pick the cheapest broker, yes — but the application discipline is where the real money is kept or lost.
The master comparison: what each broker actually charges
Every figure below was verified against the broker's own pricing page this cycle. Two commonly-repeated claims — m.Stock's "zero AMC for life" and Groww's "zero AMC" — I could not verify this pass, so they are flagged as unverified rather than stated as fact. Do not open an account on the strength of an unverified AMC claim; check the live pricing page.
| Broker | Account opening | Demat AMC | Delivery brokerage | DP charge (sell) | IPO via UPI | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dhan | ₹0 | ₹0 (individuals/HUF; NRI/corp ₹800 + GST) | ₹0 | ₹12.50 + GST | Free | Cheapest overall + IPO flip |
| Groww | ₹0 | ₹0 claimed — REFUTED / unverified this pass | ₹20 or 0.1%/order (min ₹5); free delivery discontinued ~Jun 2023 | ₹18.25 + GST | Free | Beginners (but not cheapest) |
| Upstox | ₹0 | ₹0 first year (new customers, from 14-Feb-2025), then ₹300 + GST/yr (non-BSDA) | ₹20/order (reintroduced) | ₹20/scrip | Free | Existing Upstox users |
| Angel One | ₹0 | ₹60 + GST/quarter (~₹240 + GST/yr) standard; BSDA path ₹0 up to ₹4L (₹100 + GST for ₹4–10L) | ₹0 first 30 days, then ₹20 or 0.1% (min ₹5) | Per official page (verify) | Free | BSDA long-term holders |
| m.Stock | ₹0 | "Zero AMC for life" — REFUTED / unverified this pass | ₹10/order flat (Standard plan; not free) | Per official page (verify) | Free | Verify before relying on it |
Brokers not independently confirmed this pass — verify on their official pricing page: Zerodha (₹0 delivery; BSDA-based ₹0 AMC under ₹4L), 5paisa, Paytm Money, Fyers, Alice Blue, INDmoney, Kotak Neo, ICICIdirect, HDFC Sky, Navi. Several of these are strong on paper; I'm simply not asserting their current numbers without having checked the live page this cycle.
Two honest flags, stated once more because they matter:
- m.Stock "zero AMC for life" — could not be verified this cycle. Its Standard plan bills ₹10 per order on delivery, so it is not a free-trade broker regardless. Treat the lifetime-zero-AMC positioning as unconfirmed.
- Groww "₹0 AMC" — could not be verified this cycle. Groww also charges delivery brokerage (₹20 or 0.1%, min ₹5) since discontinuing free delivery around June 2023, and carries the highest DP charge in this table. It is a clean app; it is not the cheapest.
Use-case A: cheapest for the IPO flip (apply + sell on listing)
The flipper's economics are simple. You apply (free), you get allotment, and on listing day you sell — usually one scrip, one sell order. You don't hold, so AMC barely matters if it's low; what dominates is the sell-side cost: delivery brokerage + DP charge (the statutory taxes are fixed and identical).
So the flipper wants the intersection of:
- ₹0 delivery brokerage — no cut taken on the sale.
- Lowest DP charge — the flat per-scrip fee that becomes the biggest broker-controllable cost once brokerage is zero.
- Low or ₹0 AMC — so the account doesn't cost you between listings.
Run the table against those three and Dhan is the clean winner: ₹0 delivery, the lowest verified DP charge (₹12.50 + GST), and ₹0 AMC for individuals. On a listing-day sell, your only broker-controllable cost is that ₹12.50 DP charge — everything else on the bill is government tax that every broker charges alike.
Contrast the two brokers most flippers default to:
- Groww — you pay ₹20-or-0.1% brokerage on the sell and the highest DP charge (₹18.25 + GST). Two avoidable costs stacked on a trade Dhan does for a single ₹12.50 DP charge.
- Upstox — ₹20/order delivery brokerage plus a ₹20/scrip DP charge. Again, two costs where Dhan has one.
For a flipper doing, say, eight listings a year, the difference between "one ₹12.50 DP charge per sell" and "₹20 brokerage + ₹18–20 DP per sell" compounds into real money over a year — on trades where the stock gain was the whole point. Dhan wins use-case A.
A worked example: the same flip on three brokers
To make the spread concrete, imagine you sell one allotted lot on listing day. The statutory taxes (STT, stamp duty, exchange charge, SEBI fee, GST on charges) are identical across all three brokers, so the only line that moves is the broker-controllable part — brokerage plus DP charge. Setting the identical statutory taxes aside to isolate what you can actually shop for:
| Broker | Delivery brokerage on the sell | DP charge on the sell | Broker-controllable cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dhan | ₹0 | ₹12.50 + GST | ≈ ₹12.50 + GST |
| Upstox | ₹20/order | ₹20/scrip | ≈ ₹40 + GST |
| Groww | ₹20 or 0.1% (min ₹5) | ₹18.25 + GST | ≈ ₹38 + GST |
On a single flip the gap is small in rupees. But note the ratio: the controllable cost on Groww or Upstox is roughly three times Dhan's, and it scales linearly with the number of listings you flip. Over a busy IPO year, that is the difference between keeping your gains and donating a slice of each one to line items that added nothing. The statutory taxes you'd have paid regardless; the brokerage-plus-DP delta is pure, avoidable leakage.
The same logic is why "₹20 is nothing" reasoning misleads. ₹20 is nothing on a ₹50,000 gain. But it's not nothing relative to the ₹12.50 alternative, and it's certainly not nothing when the listing pops only a little and your gain is thin — which happens more often than IPO hype admits.
Use-case B: cheapest for the long-term hold
The long-term holder's math inverts. You apply once, you get allotment, and then you sit — for years. The sell-side cost happens once, far in the future. What bleeds you every single year is the AMC — a fee on shares you already own, charged whether or not you touch the account.
So the long-term holder wants ₹0 AMC, sustained. Two clean routes:
- A broker with ₹0 standard AMC — Dhan. For individuals, Dhan's AMC is ₹0 with no holdings cap and no "first year only" asterisk. Your demat costs nothing to keep open, at any portfolio size. This is the simplest zero-bleed long-term home.
- A BSDA account — Angel One or Zerodha (BSDA route). If you're a small holder (portfolio under ₹4 lakh), a BSDA gives you ₹0 AMC too, via the SEBI rule. The catch is the ₹4 lakh ceiling: cross it and you pay (₹100 + GST up to ₹10 lakh, then a full demat). Fine for a modest book; limiting for a growing one.
Watch the traps here:
- Upstox's ₹0 AMC is "first year only" for new customers, then ₹300 + GST/yr on a non-BSDA account. Great year one, a recurring bleed after — the opposite of what a decade-long holder wants.
- Angel One's standard AMC is ~₹240 + GST/yr; the ₹0 only comes via the BSDA path and its ₹4 lakh limit. If you're not on BSDA, you're paying.
- Groww / m.Stock ₹0-AMC claims are unverified this cycle — do not bank a ten-year hold on a claim you can't confirm on the live page today.
For a holder who wants ₹0 AMC with no holdings cap and no first-year trick, Dhan wins use-case B outright. For a genuinely small holder who wants to stay put under ₹4 lakh, a BSDA (Angel One / Zerodha) is an equally-free alternative — just mind the ceiling.
The combined verdict: Dhan, with honest caveats
Across both use-cases, one broker is the cheapest on verified 2026 pricing:
Dhan — ₹0 account opening, ₹0 AMC for individuals (no holdings cap), ₹0 delivery brokerage, and the lowest verified DP charge at ₹12.50 + GST. It's the cheapest for flipping and the cheapest for holding, which is rare — usually you trade one against the other.
Here's the same conclusion as a cost-per-use-case summary:
| Use-case | What actually matters | Cheapest verified pick |
|---|---|---|
| IPO flip (sell on listing) | ₹0 delivery + lowest DP charge + low/₹0 AMC | Dhan (₹0 delivery, ₹12.50 DP, ₹0 AMC) |
| Long-term hold | ₹0 AMC sustained (no cap, no first-year trick) | Dhan (₹0 AMC) — or a BSDA under ₹4L (Angel One / Zerodha) |
| Combined (both) | Low on all four controllable line items | Dhan |
Now the caveats, because a verdict without them is marketing, not analysis:
- The two refuted claims stand refuted. m.Stock's "zero AMC for life" and Groww's "zero AMC" could not be verified this cycle. Don't choose either on the strength of a zero-AMC claim you can't confirm on the live page. (And both charge on delivery anyway — m.Stock ₹10/order, Groww ₹20-or-0.1%.)
- Statutory costs are identical everywhere. STT, stamp duty, exchange charge, SEBI fee and GST are the same at Dhan as at anyone else. No broker can discount a government tax — so a "cheaper broker" only ever means cheaper AMC, brokerage and DP charge, never cheaper taxes.
- "Zero-brokerage" still isn't free. Even a ₹0-brokerage broker charges the DP fee on every sell plus all the statutory taxes. There is no such thing as a costless sell; there is only a lowest-cost one.
- AMC-free plans have conditions. "₹0 AMC" can mean first year only (Upstox), via BSDA under ₹4 lakh (Angel One / Zerodha), or for individuals only (Dhan — NRIs/corporates pay ₹800 + GST). Read which one applies to you.
A decision checklist before you open anything
Run these five checks on the broker's own live pricing page before committing:
- AMC — what, and under what condition? ₹0 unconditionally? First year only? BSDA-gated under ₹4 lakh? For individuals only? Get the exact wording.
- Delivery brokerage — genuinely ₹0, or ₹20/0.1%/₹10-flat? "Free IPO" says nothing about the sell brokerage. Check that line specifically.
- DP charge per sell. The fee nobody escapes — find its exact figure (₹12.50–₹20 + GST range). For a flipper, this is often the biggest controllable cost.
- Are you flipping or holding? Flipping → optimise sell-side (₹0 delivery + low DP). Holding → optimise AMC (₹0, sustained, no cap).
- BSDA eligibility. If you're a small long-term holder, ask whether the broker offers BSDA and whether you must opt in — it won't auto-apply.
A word on how fast this changes
Broker pricing in India is not stable. Free delivery has been introduced and withdrawn (Groww, ~June 2023). "Free first year" AMC offers come and go (Upstox, from 14-Feb-2025). DP charges get revised. The verdict in this post — Dhan, cheapest on both counts — reflects verified pricing this cycle, but the only figure you should trust the day you act is the one on the broker's official pricing page at that moment.
This is general information to help you understand where the cost hides, not financial advice and not a recommendation to buy, sell, or apply for any security. IPOs carry real risk; a listing can fall below its issue price, and allotment is never guaranteed.
Conclusion
Applying to an IPO is free, and every broker will happily tell you so — because they have no choice. The real cost of IPO investing was always somewhere else: in the AMC on the demat that holds your shares, in the delivery brokerage when you sell, and in the DP-plus-statutory charge that even a zero-brokerage broker cannot make disappear.
Shop the two things you can shop — AMC and delivery brokerage — accept that the DP charge and the statutory taxes are fixed, and the cheapest broker falls out cleanly. For flipping on listing and for holding across years, on verified 2026 pricing, that broker is Dhan: ₹0 opening, ₹0 AMC for individuals, ₹0 delivery, and the lowest DP charge going. A BSDA account (Angel One / Zerodha) is an equally-free alternative for a small holder staying under ₹4 lakh — just mind the ceiling.
And treat the two zero-AMC claims I couldn't verify — m.Stock and Groww — as unconfirmed until you see them on the live page yourself. The whole point of reading the fee stack instead of the ad is that you stop taking the marketing at its word.
Sources
Every fee should be re-verified on the broker's official pricing page before you act — the figures below reflect verification this cycle and are subject to change.
- SEBI — ASBA (Application Supported by Blocked Amount) for IPO applications: sebi.gov.in (search "ASBA" / IPO application process).
- SEBI — Basic Services Demat Account (BSDA) circular and eligibility (₹0 AMC up to ₹4L; ₹100 + GST for ₹4–10L; one BSDA per person): sebi.gov.in.
- Dhan — pricing / brokerage charges (₹0 AMC individuals, ₹0 delivery, ₹12.50 + GST DP charge): dhan.co/pricing.
- Groww — brokerage & charges (delivery ₹20 or 0.1%, min ₹5; DP ₹18.25 + GST): groww.in/charges.
- Upstox — pricing (₹0 AMC first year for new customers from 14-Feb-2025, then ₹300 + GST; ₹20/order delivery; ₹20/scrip DP): upstox.com/brokerage-charges.
- Angel One — charges (standard AMC ₹60 + GST/quarter; BSDA ₹0 up to ₹4L; delivery ₹0 for 30 days then ₹20 or 0.1%): angelone.in/charges.
- m.Stock — pricing (₹0 account opening; Standard plan ₹10/order flat; lifetime-zero-AMC claim unverified this cycle): mstock.com/pricing.
- Zerodha — pricing / BSDA (₹0 delivery; BSDA-based ₹0 AMC under ₹4L — verify current): zerodha.com/charges.
- CDSL / NSDL — depository (DP) charge schedules that brokers pass through on every sell: cdslindia.com and nsdl.co.in.
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