Mrs. Khushi wishes to open a Demat Account in her name.(a) Can she open the account going to Mumbai office of NSDL?(b) Is she required to pay for opening of account and its maintenance?(c) Does she have to send the shares to respective company for de…

Answer: (a) No (b) Yes (c) No

(a) No. An investor cannot open a demat account directly with the depository. Mrs. Khushi has to open it through a Depository Participant (DP) such as a bank, a stock broker or a financial institution registered with NSDL or CDSL.

(b) Yes. The DP may charge an account opening fee and an annual maintenance charge, besides transaction charges, as per its tariff. (Some DPs waive the opening fee, and a Basic Services Demat Account has low or nil maintenance charges for small holdings.)

(c) No. She has to fill a Demat Request Form and hand over her share certificates to her DP. The DP forwards the request through the depository and sends the certificates to the company or its Registrar and Transfer Agent, which verifies them and confirms dematerialisation.