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What's a demat account?

Demat refers to a dematerialised account.
Used to buy or sell stocks. A demat account can be opened with no balance of

shares. There is no minimum balance to be maintained either. It is a zero balance account.

 It is like bank account where actual money is replaced by

shares. Let's say a persons portfolio of shares looks like this: 150 of Infosys, 50 of Wipro, 200 of HLL and 100 of ACC. All these will show in a demat account. So there is no need of any physical certificates shares. They are all held electronically in account. As shares are brought and sold, they are adjusted in account. Just like a bank passbook or statement, the DP will provide with periodic statements of holdings and transactions.
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 NSE December 1996

BSE December 1997