Stock market is perhaps one topic that would invite a litany of opinions from everyone and their grandmother.
In India you cannot expect the market. The market ups and downs is keenly followed on news channels and worries all stakeholders and extended stakeholders.
With the number of dissenting voices that shape opinion it can be hard to zero in on advice from particular someone. It’d seem everyone is correct and everyone wrong.
How do you make a decision then.
Don’t worry, we got you.
The basics first:
What will you require?
PAN: Permanent Account Number is a form of ID card that almost anyone can apply for. When I applied for and got one almost 9 years back PAN wasn’t needed for bank accounts. The go to form of ID verification at the time was a driver’s license.
However any form of financial transactions now warrants a PAN.
A place to buy and sell stocks:
A broker agent or website is the next thing you need.
There are dozens of good online brokers available that you can make use of. I first went with Zerodha, the discount brokerage. The features like 20 rs or less on executed trades and low opening charges were very attractive. But I moved shortly after from the platform.
ICICI Direct, Sharekhan and Kotak are good options that offer a lot more options.
Demat Account
Most brokers often have their own demat accounts and the process is seamless. Others tie up with a demat provider like IL & FS and hold stocks in dematerialized form for you.
Whatever be the case the process doesn’t take a lot of time.
Buying selling and holding stocks
There’s no particular mystery to buying or selling stocks. Most online platforms are pretty intuitive and self-explanatory. If you spend a few minutes you would be able to understand the ins and outs of the system and start trading right away.
For instance you can purchase Vedanta that’s presently trading at 210. Specify the number of stocks you want to buy. Different instruments allow you to do intra day trading where positions will be squared off automatically at 3:30 or long-term holding.
There are only two stock exchanges in India. The Bombay Stock exchange and the National Stock exchange. Most stocks are listed on both while a few are listed on only one exchange.
Don’t become greedy and invest everything into one stock. Doing so may result in your entire holdings eroding in value.
