Indian broker API integration

Why the official API matters in India

Automating on Indian markets means connecting through your registered broker's own API, within SEBI's framework and the broker's terms. That is the route every broker on this page supports, and it is the only route we build on. No browser automation, no unofficial endpoints, no workarounds that break the first time the broker changes a login page. Most brokers charge for API access or require a registration step for algorithmic orders; we tell you what applies to yours before you commit to anything. Our guide to SEBI’s retail algo trading rules explains the static IP, API key and registration requirements, and our comparison of the Zerodha, Angel One, Upstox and Dhan APIs sets their limits side by side.

The thirteen brokers, and what each one asks of the code

Every Indian broker API is a little different. These are the ones we have delivered on, with the engineering note that matters most for each.

Zerodha Kite Connect

REST and WebSocket. Every trading day starts with a login that issues a fresh access token, so an unattended system needs a token routine before the open. Product types MIS, CNC and NRML, GTT orders, and published limits the order layer has to respect: 10 orders a second, 400 a minute and 5,000 a day, with up to 25 changes to one order. The access token expires at 6 AM the next day.

Angel One SmartAPI

REST and WebSocket streaming across NSE, BSE and MCX. Login is TOTP-based per session; order book, trade book and positions are read back after every order rather than assumed. Published limits: 20 orders a second, 500 a minute and 1,000 an hour, the same for changes and cancellations, and price requests at 10 a second.

ICICI Direct Breeze API

REST and WebSocket for equities, F&O and currency. A session token per day, and a symbol-mapping step between ICICI stock codes and exchange symbols that trips up first-time integrations.

Kotak Securities Kotak Neo API

REST and WebSocket on the Neo platform for equity and F&O, with an MPIN and TOTP login flow. Order modification and cancellation behave slightly differently from the older Kotak API, so the connection layer is written for Neo specifically.

5paisa 5paisa Open API

REST with JSON payloads and a TOTP login, covering equity, F&O and commodity. Straightforward order placement; the work is in position reconciliation and handling the auto square-off window for intraday products.

Motilal Oswal MOFSL Open API

REST and WebSocket with an API-key and daily authentication step. Equity and F&O order flow, with the usual Indian-market specifics: product type, lot size and expiry handled in code.

Groww Groww Trading API

REST with an access-token flow for equities and F&O. A newer API, so the connection layer is kept thin and versioned, and every order is confirmed from the order book rather than from the response alone.

Sharekhan REST (JSON) API, or the NEST platform

Depending on the account setup we build through Sharekhan's REST API with a daily session, or through the NEST trading platform the broker provides. Both routes have been delivered.

MasterTrust REST (JSON) API, or the NEST platform

Connectivity through the broker-supplied REST API or the NEST platform, chosen with the client according to how their account is set up. Equity and F&O order flow with per-account risk limits.

Jainam REST (JSON) API, or the NEST platform

Same pattern: the REST API where the account has it, NEST connectivity otherwise. The strategy layer is identical either way; only the connection layer changes.

Anand Rathi XTS API

REST for orders and a live socket connection for prices and order updates, on the XTS platform. Built for a multi-account system on NSE cash and F&O, where every price, stop and strike is checked before an order leaves and any position that differs from what the system expects is logged for a person to review.

Samco StockNote API

REST with JSON and a session login, built into a shared broker layer alongside Sharekhan, Angel One and Kotak, so one order flow serves every broker the client uses.

Interactive Brokers India TWS API and IB Gateway

The same API as global IBKR, so the engineering on our Interactive Brokers page applies: pacing limits, nightly Gateway resets, event-driven order updates. NSE access through an IBKR India account.

Limits for Zerodha and Angel One are as published in their API documentation when we last checked, in October 2026. Brokers change them, so we check again before every build. Our Indian broker API comparison sets them beside Upstox, Dhan and FYERS.

What we build on them

The same chain as any system we build: your logic exactly as you wrote it, order placement and management through the broker, risk limits enforced in code before an order leaves, and execution that runs without a manual step unless you want one. Plus the parts that are specific to Indian markets:

• Daily session and token expiry. Most Indian broker APIs invalidate the session at the end of the day; a system that runs unattended has to renew before the open, not fail at 9:15.
• Exchange sessions and holidays. NSE and BSE hours, the MCX evening session, muhurat trading, and the holiday calendar, all in the scheduler rather than in your head.
• F&O specifics. Lot sizes, weekly and monthly expiries, strike steps, and freeze quantities that force a large order to be split.
• Product types and square-off. MIS versus NRML versus CNC, and the broker’s intraday auto square-off window, which your exit logic has to beat.
• Rate limits and order modifications. Each API has its own limits per second and per day; the order layer queues and paces rather than getting throttled mid-session.
• Streaming ticks that reconnect. WebSocket feeds drop; the data layer reconnects, re-subscribes and marks the gap so a stale price never drives an order.

Examples from our work

• One click that buys the same stock across many accounts at MasterTrust, Angel One, Kotak and Interactive Brokers, with each account’s quantity worked out from its own fund size.
• A multi-account system on NSE cash and F&O through Anand Rathi’s XTS API, where every price, stop and strike is checked before an order leaves and any position that differs from the system’s view is logged for a person to review.
• One order flow across six brokers: Zerodha, an XTS broker, Sharekhan, Angel One, Kotak and Samco, each with its own login and order format.
• Index options with live index prices from Interactive Brokers and orders through an Indian broker’s XTS API, each trade copied to several accounts with each account’s own quantity.
• Index derivatives for several accounts through the NEST platform, with a mapping of which of the client’s strategies runs for which account.

Client names and results are withheld. These describe the engineering only.

Small or large

One strategy on one of these brokers, rules already written down, is a starter build: about ten days, fixed fee. Several strategies, several accounts or two brokers in one system is a multi-broker platform. Either way the brief is the same six things, and our guide to what a custom trading bot costs explains what moves the quote. The wider India picture, markets and who we build for, is on the India page; the parent service is broker API integration.