What is the differences between NSDL and CDSL?

NSDL is a short form for National Securities Depository Limited which deals with 'National Stock Exchange' (NSE), whereas CDSL is the short form for Central Depository Securities Limited which works for Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

NSDL is the oldest and largest electronic depository of securities in India, which is incorporated in the year 1996 and based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is the first depository in India to offer trading and settlement of securities in electronic or demat form. NSDL is having around 1.7 crore investor account, 30,500 DP service centers covering approx 2000 cities.

CDSL is another electronic depository of securities in India, which is incorporated in the year 1999 and also based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is the second largest securities depository in India and facilitates a book-entry transfer. CDSL is having around 1.6 crore investor account managed by 19000 DP service centers.

Both are government registered depositories which are used to hold various securities like Stocks, Shares, money, property etc in an electronic format.

Key differences Between NSDL and CDSL (Comparison):

There are some key difference between NSDL and CDSL

If we compare NSDL and CDSL, there is not much difference between the NSDL and CDSL demat account. Both NSDL and CDSL are regularized by Indian Government and offers same facilities to customers.

Hence, being an investor there is no reason to think much about which repository your account is registered to.

Though some of the brokers highlight the point of opening an account with either CDSL or NSDL as a premium benefit. In reality, that is only a marketing trick to convince you to open an account with them.