Beginner Q&A on Stock Market

[Investor]

I am new to investment, have two basic queries on demat.
1- What is demat?

2- Is demat compulsory?

[v.r.s.nathan]

1- What is demat?

A demat account, the abbreviation for dematerialised account, is a type of banking account which dematerializes paper-based physical stock shares. The dematerialised account is used to avoid holding physical shares: the shares are bought and sold through a stock broker.

2- Is demat compulsory?

If you want to trade than demat account is mandatory. If you just want to buy and keep shares, than you can keep as a paper-based physical stock shares (without demat account).