Nsdl To Charge Flat Fee For Depository Participants

National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) has rationalised the fee structure it charges depository participants. Instead of on an ad-valorem fee, the depository will charge fees at a flat rate effective from April 1, 2002.

Custody fees, which are being levied now at the rate of 0.01 per cent of the value of the securities subject to a ceiling depending on the assets under custody with a DP, will now be charged at Re 0.75 per entry per month -- Rs 9 per annum. This means that if an investor holds shares of five companies in one account, he will be charged for five entries, that is Rs 3.75 per month.

An account that has no entry at all will be charged as if it has one entry, that is Re 0.75 per month. Settlement fee which is levied now at 0.02 per cent of the value of the securities for debit to an account, will now be charged at a flat rate of Rs 15 per debit instruction.

Fees on pledge closure, pledge invocation and the annual fee (which varied from Rs one lakh to Rs 5 lakh) stand abolished. Pledge creation is now at Rs 25 per instruction instead of the earlier 0.01 per cent of the securities value. Securities borrowing fee has also been fixed at Rs 25 per instruction while rematerialisation is now at a flat rate of Rs 10 per certificate.

The revised fee structure will, however, be subject to a minimum fee of Rs 1.5 lakh per annum payable by a depository participant, which will be irrespective of the level of activity or the total bill amount.

Explaining its decision on revising the fee structure, an NSDL release said: "As the settlement in the market has now been fully converted to paperless mode, NSDL feels this is an appropriate time to revise the fee structure. This is because, in an automated environment, the requirement of computing infrastructure and its usage is unrelated to the value of transactions. Hence it is logical to relate the fees to the number of transactions in respect of settlement fee and to the number of account positions as far as custody fee is concerned."