Kotak Securities to waive brokerage for intra-day trades on new offering

Mumbai: In aggressive play in an industry disrupted by discount brokerages, Kotak Securities (KS) on Thursday launched an offering where intra-day trading will become free.

For all the other trades, a customer will have to pay a flat charge of Rs 20 per transaction, it said, adding that it will earn its revenues from such transactions and also from cross-sells of other products offered by the diversified financial services group.

Kotak Securities Chairman S A Narayan said KS’ focus traditionally has been on the cash delivery-based customers who take medium-to-long term bets backed by research. However, in the last one year, especially since the onset of pandemic, trading activity has been the highest on the options side, where it lacked a focus.

It commissioned customers’ surveys which revealed that they want a cheaper brokerage and also given some instances of defaults, a trusted name given that the margin money lies with the company.

This led to the launch of the product, where a customer can join with an upfront fee of Rs 499 and get it reimbursed in full if she is unsatisfied with the service within the first month, he said.

A customer will be able to trade within an hour courtesy the tech-based onboarding solutions. The company declined to share any targets from a customer base perspective.

Unlike some of its peers, who have launched a new brand identity for the cheaper offerings, KS is not doing so and will be revamping the entire look of the brand in the next six to nine months, he said.