How to buy shares without a Demat Account?

This should have actually been a part of my previous post How to buy shares using a Demat Account? because it is meant to answer questions like How to buy shares? How to invest in stock market? etc.

There are two ways of investing in shares. One is directly buying shares. For example you decide that you are going to buy 25 shares of BHEl, 50 shares of Tata Steel, 10 of Cipla and so on. For such buying, you MUST have a Demat account.

However, there is also another way of investing in shares. Which can be thought of as indirect way of investing - Invest in a Mutual Fund. After all, a mutual fund takes your money and invests them in shares and gives you the return/profit (after deducting their fees called entry/exit loads). There are thousands of mutual funds around and several of them focus on some specific sectors. For beginners, this is the safest way to invest in a stock market. Well, safest here does not mean risk free. You still have to pick up the right mutual fund which suits your risk appetite and no matter how good the mutual funds past track record the investment is still subject to market risks. However for investing in Mutual Funds you does not require you to have a Demat Account. However you do need a PAN Card.