25 April 2012
Hi For opening a demat account, no capital is required, as many of the Depository Participants(DP's) do it for a nominal charge(even some of them do it free). Only things you would be requiring are: 1. Proof of Identity 2. Proof of address 3. PAN.
(PAn would work as a proof of id normally). You can approach any of the DP's listed in NSDL or CDSL websites with the above mentioned documents and the first year charge(varies from 100-600 among DPs).
Within 15 days of submitting the form you will be allotted a Unique DP Id-Client Id number which is your account number. You can start applying for shares or transfer in your shares from other DP's or purchase shares from a broker or even apply for mutual funds, bonds etc.
It works almost the same way as a bank account works for cash. Only difference is that here it is securities, where as in a bank account it is the cash.