Investing · 7 min read
How to buy shares in India: a beginner's walkthrough
The mechanics of placing your first order, what market and limit actually mean, and the four mistakes almost every new Indian investor makes.
Krish Dalal
Founder and editor, PaisaExpert. Master's in Business Management, London. · Last updated 2026-08-13
The actual steps
- Open a demat and trading account. Our demat account guide covers the documents and charges.
- Transfer money from your bank into the trading account, usually via UPI, which is instant.
- Search the company name in the app. Check you have the right listing, since some companies have both NSE and BSE lines and a few have similarly named group companies.
- Enter quantity. There is no minimum, and one share is a perfectly valid order.
- Choose product type CNC or delivery, which means you own the shares. MIS or intraday means the position closes the same day, which is not investing.
- Choose a limit order and set your price. Confirm.
Market order or limit order
| Order type | What it does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Limit | Buys only at your price or better | Almost always, especially for beginners |
| Market | Buys instantly at whatever price exists | Rarely, and never on a low-volume stock |
| Stop loss | Triggers a sell if price falls to a level | Traders, not long-term investors |
Use limit orders as the default. A market order on a thinly traded stock can fill several percent away from the price you saw, which is a self-inflicted loss on the very first trade. A limit order simply does not execute if the price runs away, which is the outcome you want.
What to actually buy first
For a first purchase, a broad index fund or index ETF beats an individual company almost every time. It gives you the whole market in one order, removes the research burden you are not yet equipped to carry, and takes single-company risk off the table. Individual shares make sense later, with money you can genuinely afford to be wrong about. Our comparison of index and active funds explains why the low-cost option keeps winning.
Frequently asked
What to do next
- Use CNC or delivery, never MIS, unless you specifically intend to trade.
- Set limit orders by default, not market orders.
- Make the first purchase a broad index fund, not a tip from a group chat.
- Check the portfolio quarterly at most.