Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is planning to allow direct market access to retail investors. If the regulator goes ahead with the decision, business of brokerages will be affected adversely. Currently, retail investors cannot buy or sell shares directly through stock exchanges.
Investors are able to transact in shares after subscribing to membership of brokerages. According to reports, the role of brokers will be completely eliminated in the new direct market access system. India has several brokers who act as intermediaries between retails investors and the stock exchanges.
Zerodha, ICICI Securities, Upstox, Angel Broking, HDFC Securities, Kotak Securities, 5 paise, Sharekhan and Motilal Oswal are among the top players in the brokerage industry.
They are classified into two categories: Full service category and discount brokerages.
Full-service brokers provide a wide range of services including stock trading, research and advisory and local support.
On the other hand, discount stock brokers are online brokers who only cover stock and commodity trading services. They do not provide add-ons like research and advisory, PMS, wealth management and branch support to investors.
Sharekhan, Motilal Oswal , ICICI Securities, HDFC Securities, Geojit and IIFL are classified as full service brokerages. Zerodha, Upstox and Trade Smart among others are discount stock brokers operating in the Indian share market.