Stock exchanges in India have shifted from traditional open outcry to digital trading platforms where trades are performed digitally. The shares are stored in dematerialised form in a Demat account.
Hence if anyone wants to trade or invest in the Indian Stock Market must already have a Demat account or they need to open demat account with the Depository participant, which could be your bank or even your stock broker. Once you open a Demat account, you will be given a Demat Account Number that gives the investor a unique identity for their activities in the Financial Market. Most of the investors get confused with the Demat account number and are not able to find it.
What is a Demat Account Number?
The Demat account number is simply a 16-digit numeric code that is given to an investor when he or she goes to open a Demat account successfully. It is a uniquely assigned number as it represents their Financial Identity for any activity they perform at the time of trading or investing in the Indian Stock Market. SEBI has made it mandatory for every investor to have a Demat account number, as it makes it easier for brokers and investors to access their portfolios.
Whenever you transact on the stock market be it buying or selling, This 16-digit number represents the investor. Using this Demat Number only, the stocks bought or sold by investors get credited or debited into the Demat Account in the T+2 day’s time.
The Demat account is made up of the following two elements:
- The DP ID: The depository participant identification is the number assigned to financial entities such as Banks, Brokers, etc., by depositories like NSDL and CDSL. When the customer opens a Demat account with any of these institutions, the first eight digits of the Demat Account number is the DP ID which identifies the Demat Account opening Institution.
- Customer ID: The remaining 8 of the 16-digit Demat account represent the customer ID that the stock broker gives to each customer who opens a Demat account with the institution. No two investors can have the same eight digits as it is unique to each of them.
Also Read: How to use a Demat Account?
The Two Formats of Demat Account Number
In order to easily understand and find your Demat Account Number, you need to understand the Format Demat account Number is written. There are two different formats, one for CDSL and one for NSDL. The stock brokers will also have different DP IDs depending if they are registered with CDSL & NSDL.
The Welcome letter which you receive upon the opening of the Demat from your Depository contains a welcome message about your Demat and your Demat Number. The format of your Demat varies based on the selection of your Depository. If your Depository is CDSL, your Demat Account number or CDSL Beneficiary Owner (CDSL BO) id will be a 16-digit Number such as 5557438932581933, so your BO ID in CDSL welcome letter is your Demat account number. But if your Depository is NSDL, your Demat Account Number will be a 16- digit Alpha Numeric number beginning with ‘IN’, for e.g. IN12456789232810. In both formats, the first eight characters are DP ID, and the remaining are the Customer id, thus completing the 16-digit Demat Account Number.
You can easily find your Demat Account Number in the welcome letter that you receive from the Depository when you open a Demat Account. Alternatively, you can also look for the same in your trading account if your Demat account and Trading account are Linked.
What is DP ID, and How is it different from Demat Account Number?
Your Demat Account Number and your DP ID (Depository Participant Identification) are not the same and also have nothing to do with the account holder in any way. DP ID is an identification number allotted to the depository participant like a stock broker or any other financial institution by CDSL or NSDL.
The Demat account number is a combination of both the DP ID and Customer ID of the Demat account holder. Generally, the first eight digits are the DP Id, and the remaining eight digits are the customer ID of the Demat account holder.
