Opening a demat account is as simple as opening a bank account. One can open a depository account with any DP by filling up the account opening form, which is available with the DP. Sign the DP-client agreement that defines the rights and duties of the DP and the person wishing to open the account. Receive your client account number (client ID). This client id along with your DP id gives you a unique identification in the depository system.

The answer to this question is a definite yes. It has been seen that over the years there has been no financial instrument which has given returns as high as the stock markets. The only important factor to be kept in mind is that investment should always be made with an objective in mind and we should not be too greedy while investing. On the other hand, as inflation has fallen over the last couple of decades so have the returns available from basic savings accounts. In fact, many instant access accounts no longer keep pace with inflation at all. Leaving your money in such an account now actually means it is falling in value!

There is really no such thing as 100% safe saving scheme or investment scheme. If anybody tells you different, don’t believe them! Not even government-backed bonds are 100% safe. For that matter, ask anybody who had money invested in various Latin America debt instruments in the 1970s and 1980s. Even governments can go out of business!

Saving is a stage on the way to investing. You cannot be an investor without being a saver but you can be a saver without being an investor. Savings are effectively cash or cash instruments, such as deposit account, term bonds etc. Investing is what you do with the savings you have created if you are looking to generate a return on your money that is greater than what is already available to you through your savings instruments

Under the overall supervision of the regulatory authority, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the stock exchanges in India provide a trading platform, where buyers and sellers can meet to transact in securities. The trading platform provided by BSE & NSE is an electronic one and there is no need for buyers and sellers to meet at a physical location to trade. The trade is done through the computerized trading screens or internet based trading facilities available and provided by the trading members.

It refers to a market where securities are traded after they have initially offered to the public in the primary market and/or listed on the Stock Exchange. Majority of the trading is done in the secondary market.

The Stock Exchanges has two interdependent segments: the primary (new issues) market and the secondary market. The primary market provides the channel for sale of new securities while the secondary market deals in securities previously issued.

It is advisable to conduct transactions through an intermediary as you need a trading member of a stock exchange if you intend to buy or sell any security on stock exchanges, maintain an account with a depository if you intend to hold securities in demat form, need to deposit money with a banker to an issue if you are subscribing to public issues. One also gets guidance while transacting through an intermediary. We should choose a SEBI registered intermediary, as he is accountable for its activities.

The Stock Exchanges essentially has three categories of participants, which are, the issuers of securities, investors in securities and the intermediaries which bring in the issuers and the investors together, such as merchant bankers, brokers etc.

It is a shared responsibility jointly taken by Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Department of Company Affairs (DCA), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).