In the past, investing in equity involved a high cost (high brokerage charges of about 2 per cent of the transaction value) and a number of hassles (shares were traded in the physical form, which involved a lot of paperwork and often resulted in bad deliveries due to signature mis-matches, forgery, etc.).

Today, the entire scenario of equity investing has changed for the better. Shares are now traded in the electronic (dematerialized) form and costs of investing have reduced dramatically.

Another significant improvement has been the increase in the number of mediums through which an investor can transact in equity. From just personal visits to a broker’s office and the basic telephone used in the past for equity transactions, today, an investor can use his cell phone, the Internet, call centres and kiosks for his equity trades. 

Another radical convenience, that is available to an investor today, is the seamless linkage between his demat account (which holds his equity shares in dematerialized format), his bank account and his broking account). For instance, if an investor purchases shares through the Internet, once his trade is executed by the broker, the shares purchased by him will be transferred to his demat account and his bank account will be debited for cost of shares and relevant expenses. All this will be done without the investor having to make efforts at every stage for the necessary actions.