Buying shares online in India has come a long way. Share trading in general began around late 1870s in India however online trading started only in 2000. It took more than a century for India to get to online trading and now that it has been so long, it has become easy and lucid.
Here’s a step by step process of how to buy shares online.
Pick an investment platform first
The first step is to find an investment platform. These days there are many online stock trading platforms available online. So the first step is to find the best among the lot. Like of Groww, Zerodha, ETMoney, Upstox, Sharekhan and few more allow you to invest in share market online
Online Onboarding
The next step is to basically open a demat and trading account. These days most platforms are providing a demat cum trading account. The charges are mostly around Rs 200 to 300 for a demat cum trading account.
With the advent of new online platforms like Groww Stocks, you can open a demat account and start trading within hours.
Complete your KYC
You will also have to provide your Aadhaar account number to complete the KYC process. If your Aadhaar is linked to your mobile number or email ID your KYC process can take place within minutes. After you enter your Aadhaar number on Groww, you will receive an OTP (one time password) on your email ID or mobile number, whatever the case may be. After feeding in the OTP, your KYC will be completed within seconds. Therefore to buy shares on Groww online all you need is your Aadhaar Number.
And there you go! You are all set to start buying shares online.
These were the steps on how to buy shares but there are a few things you need to know to stay informed as an investor.
Documents you need:
Here are a list of documents you will need for onboarding and KYC completion
- Pan Card
- Aadhaar Card
- Address Proof
- Signature
- Bank account details
Things you need to know:
Before you wonder how to buy Indian shares, there are a few things you need to know.
What is a demat account?
A demat account is to shares like a bank account is to cash. Demat account is the place where shares are credited when you buy the shares and the shares get debited if you sell the shares. Like banks provide an option to open bank accounts, it i sthe depository participants that give you the option to open a demat account. All online investment platforms will have an association with one of the many depository participants available in the country. So when you pick a trading/investment platform, the demat account gets registered with the depository participant that is registered with the investment platform. Technically you do not need this information as it all happens in the back end but it is always better to know what you are doing.
The process looks like this in one line:
Onboarding-> KYC-> Demat account opening done on platform -> Platform registers demat account with the DP it is registered with
What is a trading account?
Trading account is one which conducts the transaction. You use your trading account to conduct the buying and selling transactions and your demat account to store your bought and exit your sold shares. Trading account is opened with exchanges: like the NSE or BSE in India’s case. All these platforms will be registered with either one or both the exchanges.
Share market timings
Besides knowing how to buy Indian shares in a company you should also know when to buy them. Stock markets in India are open from Monday to Friday and are functional between 9.15 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. Stock markets are open throughout the year barring a few market holidays that are notified by the Sebi.
Important stock market institutions in india
SEBI:
Securities and Exchange Board of India is the stock market regulator. Sebi lays down all the rules and regulation which all the parties have to abide by when trading in shares. By parties I mean investors and traders, depository participants, brokers and the likes.
Stock Exchanges:
There are two stock exchanges in India: Bombay STock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE).
Stock Indices
Both the exchanges have indices (for eg. Sensex and Nifty) that club the top companies listed on them. Such indices serve as great indicators of how the market is doing. Sensex is made up of the top 30 companies in the market and Nifty has the top 50 companies. The list keeps changing depending on the performance of the companies. When the Sensex and Nifty go down or up, it gives us a sense of how the stock market is doing in india. In the absence of indices, all investors would be left in the fray with 1000s of listed companies on offer. It would be difficult to pick a company and siphon off the bad ones Indices help categories and group companies in one place.
Primary and secondary markets
What is a Primary Market:
This is the market where companies first issue their shares through an IPO (initial public offering). When a company goes public and dlists itself on the stock exchanges for the first time, it is called an IPO. Investing in an IPO happens through applications.
What is a Secondary Market:
Secondary market is what we know as the share market. This is where you can buy shares in a company and sell the same on a regular basis. In the secondary market you can buy shares of companies that are already listed and are trading for quite some time.
