Axis, Angel Broking Steeply Cut Fees To Take On Discount Brokers
Traditional brokers are getting aggressive on the discount front.
With new-age brokerages gaining traction, thanks to their no or very low brokerage fees, traditional players like Axis Securities and Angel Broking are getting aggressive on the discount front.
Axis Direct, the brokerage arm of private lender Axis Bank, on Monday introduced a plan under which its customers will be charged a flat Rs 20 per trade irrespective of the value of the transaction, an official statement said.
Bank customers maintaining an average quarterly balance of Rs 75,000 will be able to avail of this low fee offer, while others will have to pay a monthly fee of Rs 250, Axis Direct said.
The announcement made in the morning was followed up by Angel Broking which also came out with flat pricing for trades, wherein it will charge Rs 15 for order size of up to Rs 50,000 and Rs 30 for those beyond, the pure-play brokerage said in a statement.
It can be noted that the going has been tough for the brokerage industry in recent years, with new entrants like Zerodha disrupting old models wherein customers are normally charged a percentage of the trade value.
The Axis plan is offered to investors in both the equity and equity derivatives segments, while the Angel offer is valid for equities, futures & options, commodity and also currency segments.
Axis Securities Managing Director and Chief Executive Arun Thukral said retail investors, especially the millennials, are looking for affordable solutions.
He said the house is looking at improving market share both in terms of volume and the number of retail investors transacting with it, through the launch.
“An online self-service offering that provides services at a simplified pricing will help attract a newer set of first-time investors,” Angel Broking CEO Vinay Agrawal said.
The market leader in the low or zero brokerage arena is Zerodha as it has no minimum brokerage fee per trade but a flat 0.01 percent or Rs 20 per order, whichever is lower. It also charges zero brokerage on delivery.
Another player is Wisdom Capital which charges no fees in any segment, while RKSV Security offers five free trades every month and Rs 20 per trade after that.
That apart, there are also many discount brokerages such as Samco Securities, 5Paise Capital from the IIFL group, which also runs another brokerage IIFL Securities, among others.