Where Your Money Actually Goes on an NSE Options Trade (STT, Exchange, SEBI)
You buy 2 lots of Nifty 25000 CE at ₹120, sell at ₹135. That's 75 × 2 × 15 = ₹2,250 gross profit. Feels clean. Then you check the contract note and something like ₹180-200 is gone before you even count brokerage. Where did it go?
Let me break down that exact trade at real rates.
The turnover on both legs
Buy leg turnover: 75 × 2 × 120 = ₹18,000 (premium value)
Sell leg turnover: 75 × 2 × 135 = ₹20,250
Total premium turnover across both sides: ₹38,250.
Almost every statutory charge is calculated on premium, not on notional. That's the one thing worth internalising — options charges are cheap in absolute terms because premium is small compared to the ₹18-20 lakh notional you're actually controlling.
STT — the big one, and it's only on sell side
STT on options is 0.1% of premium on the sell side (was hiked from 0.05% in Oct 2023, worth remembering). On the ₹20,250 sell turnover that's ₹20.25. Doesn't sound like much until you realise STT on exercised ITM options that you let expire is 0.125% on intrinsic value of the full contract, not premium. That's the classic trap — a 1-rupee ITM option you forget to square off can eat ₹2,000+ in STT. Never let ITM options expire if you can help it. Square off.
Exchange transaction charge
NSE charges 0.03503% of premium turnover on options (both sides). On ₹38,250 that's about ₹13.40. Small, but it adds up over 50 trades a month.
SEBI + stamp duty
SEBI charges ₹10 per crore of turnover — on our trade, literally 4 paise. Ignore it. Stamp duty is 0.003% on buy side only, so ~₹0.54 here. Also negligible per trade.
GST
18% GST is charged on brokerage + exchange charges + SEBI fee. Not on STT and not on stamp duty. This is where a lot of people miscalculate — GST compounds on top of the exchange charge, so that ₹13.40 becomes ₹15.80 net.
Adding it up
- STT: ₹20.25
- Exchange: ₹13.40
- SEBI: ₹0.04
- Stamp: ₹0.54
- Brokerage (₹20 flat × 2): ₹40
- GST on brokerage + exchange: ₹9.61
Total statutory + brokerage: roughly ₹84 on a ₹2,250 gross profit. Not bad — about 3.7%.
Now do the same math on a scalp where you made ₹5 per lot. Suddenly 40% of your profit is charges. That's the real point. If you want to plug in your own strike and premium, the brokerage calculator gives you the exact split without you having to remember which charge applies to which side.
The buy-side vs sell-side asymmetry on STT is the single thing most people forget. Sellers pay more. Factor it into your expected value before you take the trade, not after.