You should check out http://comparebrokerages.in/. We update the website with the latest financials available on the brokerage business from the MCA website.
Internationally some really big brokerage firms have gone down, so just trading with a reputed name doesn’t mean you can be 100% safe. If there is financial trouble, it will first show up on a brokerage’s balance sheet. So make sure to track, if there are heavy loss making brokerages with debt on the books, best to avoid trading with them. I know a lot of us traders like low brokerage, but it is important that we don’t compromise with quality while selecting a brokerage, make sure if you are going with not so reputed names, they are atleast profitable.
With all the three recent cases of brokers going down, Unicon, Orion and Kassa. All of them had stopped filing returns and made huge losses on the books. So for example, if you were checking Unicon on http://comparebrokerages.in/, you would have known there is trouble much in advance.
Another indication to know that your brokerage firm is in trouble is if fund withdrawal requests are not honored in time.