IIFL bid wins Karvy's 1.1 million demat customers, Axis takes trading a/cs

Axis Securities' customer base to swell from 2.5 mn to over 3.6 mn; IIFL says well poised to service demat customers from Day-1

IIFL Securities has won the bid to acquire about 1.1 million demat accounts held by Karvy Stock Broking, while Axis Securities has emerged as the successful bidder for trading accounts (broking accounts) held by Karvy. 

These wins were part of a formal bidding process organised by the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), BSE, and MSE. 

"This is to inform you that IIFL Securities has emerged as the successful bidder for demat accounts held by Karvy with NSDL and CDSL. The said transfer of demat accounts is subject to remittance of the bid amount and submission of the necessary documents in relation thereto," IIFL Securities said in an exchange filing. 

The said transfer of trading accounts is subject to the remittance of the bid amount and submission of the necessary documents in relation thereto. 

Once the process is complete, the customer base of Axis Securities will surge from 2.5 million to over 3.6 million, the brokerage said in a note. The combined number of demat accounts for IIFL Securities will total more than 1.38 million, the largest after Zerodha and RKSV Securities. 

"This transfer will help broking clients of Karvy to continue access to the securities market. They will be able to take the benefit of the robust trading platform of Axis Securities (ASL) and avail various products and services currently enjoyed by more than 2.4 million ASL customers," said Axis Securities in a note on Wednesday.

R Venkataraman, Chairman, IIFL Securities and Co-Promoter IIFL Group said, “This will allow us to serve over 1.1 million customers whose accounts have been frozen since over a year. With country wide network in 2,500 locations, IIFL Securities we will be able service the accounts from day one.”

The NSE, BSE, and Metropolitan Stock Exchange (MSE) had issued a circular, dated February 6, 2021, to transfer the trading, as well as, the demat accounts held by Karvy Stock Broking Limited (Karvy) to another Member/ Participant through a formal bidding process based on laid down eligibility criteria.