SEBI turnover fee

SEBI funds part of its operations by charging a small fee on the trading it regulates, collected through brokers and clearing members. The rate is not one number across every market segment — it is set product by product, and for Interest Rate Derivatives the workbook gives the exact current figure.

The workbook's own statement: "Every stock broker/clearing member/self-clearing member shall pay to the SEBI a fee in respect of the securities transactions including off-market transactions undertaken by them, at the rates specified by SEBI from time to time. Currently for Interest Rate Derivatives the SEBI turnover fees is Rs. 5 per crore of turnover."

On top of that transaction-based fee, "a clearing member/self-clearing member shall pay a fee of Rs. 50,000/- per year till the registration is in force" — a flat annual charge, separate from the per-crore turnover fee.

What counts as turnover for this fee. The workbook defines it precisely: turnover includes the value of trades executed by the broker on the relevant exchange segment and trades settled on expiration of the contracts. For options, turnover is computed on the premium traded, and where an option is exercised or assigned, turnover is additionally computed on the notional value of the contracts exercised or assigned.

This Rs 5-per-crore rate for Interest Rate Derivatives is markedly lower than SEBI's turnover fee for other segments — commodity derivatives, for instance, carry a Rs 15-per-crore rate generally (reduced to Rs 1 per crore for agricultural commodities). The gap reflects that ETIRD is a distinct, separately-rated segment, not an extension of any other product's fee schedule.

A clearing member clocks Rs 400 crore of Interest Rate Derivatives turnover in a month, split between futures trades and options premium traded.

SEBI turnover fee = Rs 400 crore x (Rs 5 / Rs 1 crore) = Rs 2,000 for the month

Separately, because it is registered as a clearing member, it also owes the flat Rs 50,000 annual fee, payable for as long as its registration remains in force — regardless of how much or how little turnover it actually generates that year.

Compare a commodity derivatives broker doing the identical Rs 400 crore of non-agricultural turnover: at the Rs 15-per-crore rate that applies there, its fee would be Rs 400 crore × (Rs 15 / Rs 1 crore) = Rs 6,000 — three times what the ETIRD clearing member pays on the same notional turnover, purely because the two segments are rated differently.

Chapter 6 (Trading Mechanism in Exchange Traded IRD), section 6.6.1 (SEBI Turnover Fees), states the Rs 5-per-crore rate and the Rs 50,000 annual clearing-member fee, immediately after listing SEBI turnover fees among the "regulatory levies" a client may be charged. Expect a direct-recall question on the Rs 5-per-crore rate and the separate Rs 50,000 annual fee.

• Rs 5 per crore is the Interest Rate Derivatives rate specifically — it is not the same figure as other segments. A commodities question elsewhere in the syllabus uses Rs 15 per crore (Rs 1 per crore for agricultural commodities); do not carry that number into an ETIRD question, or vice versa.
• The Rs 50,000 annual fee is separate from, and in addition to, the per-crore turnover fee — it is charged simply for holding clearing member or self-clearing member registration, whatever the turnover.
• For options, turnover is based on premium traded, plus notional value if exercised or assigned — not simply the number of contracts.
• STT does not apply to ETIRD transactions, but SEBI turnover fees still do — the two are separate statutory and regulatory levies, and one being absent does not mean the other is too.