What is a contract note?

A contract note is the official, legally required document a broker issues after every executed trade, detailing the exact price, quantity, and all charges (brokerage, STT, GST, exchange fees, SEBI charges, stamp duty) applied to that specific transaction. SEBI mandates that brokers issue contract notes, and they’re typically sent by end of the trading day or the next morning, via email or accessible through the broker’s app or website, serving as the authoritative record of what actually happened with a trade, as opposed to the estimate you saw before placing the order. It’s distinct from a ledger statement, which shows the running account balance over time, since a contract note is specific to one trading day’s transactions and their exact charges. You treat the contract note as the final word on what a trade actually cost, and you keep copies for tax filing and for resolving any dispute about charges, since it’s the document brokers and exchanges themselves refer to if a discrepancy comes up.