Demat Accounts

The Reserve Bank of India has already put in place a detailed fraud risk management framework for all regulated entities

Demat account additions dropped 40% in the first nine months of 2025 as volatility, weak returns, and fewer IPOs dampened retail investor participation

Market participants said account openings have moderated in recent months as equity returns plateau

The BSE froze promoter demat accounts in 457 companies, according to data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi's) 2024-25 annual report released on August 12

With seamless onboarding and the continued allure of equities fuelling demand, July's additions pushed the nationwide demat count beyond 200 million

From the 1992 Harshad Mehta scam to its public listing in 2025: How NSDL helped modernise and build the dematerialised capital market ecosystem in India

Non-residents have tax deducted at source in India, along with potential taxation in their home countries

The Indian market is witnessing remarkable participation from retail investors, with a surge in demat accounts to 19.4 crore in 2025 from 3.6 crore in 2019, a senior Sebi official said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, domestic institutional ownership in listed companies has increased from 13 per cent to 20 per cent, while foreign ownership has declined from 22 per cent to 17 per cent. Speaking at an event organised by IVCA Renewable Energy Summit 2025, Ruchi Chojer, Executive Director at Sebi, said that trust is the cornerstone of investment, and India has earned that trust. "At Sebi, our regulatory approach has focused on balancing capital formation with systemic stability and investor protection. Trust is the cornerstone of investment, and India has earned that trust," she was quoted in a statement issued by IVCA. She shared that retail participation has surged from 3.6 crore demat accounts in 2019 to 19.4 crore in 2025. Highlighting the evolution of capital markets in the country, Chojer

June also marked the second consecutive monthly increase after a steady decline from January to April

May snaps a four-month slide with 2.2 million new accounts, pushing the total towards 200 million

The monthly average of 3.42 million new accounts also set a new record for a financial year

Worst rout in broader markets since Covid-19 impacts new investor influx

STUCK IN NEUTRAL: New demat accounts sputter, slipping to a 14-month low of 2.84 million

Unique accounts now below 60% of total

To encourage demat holding of securities, Sebi on Tuesday proposed mandating listed companies to issue securities only in demat form following stock split, consolidation of face value of shares, and merger or demerger. In case an investor does not have a demat account, the issuer companies will be required to open a separate demat account with a suitable ledger of ownership or suspense escrow account for dealing with such securities, Sebi proposed in its consultation paper. Dematerialisation of securities has several benefits, including reduction of frauds and forgery, elimination of loss and damage of securities, faster and more efficient transfers, improved transparency and regulatory oversight, mitigation of legal disputes, cost reduction of investors and companies, etc. Considering this, while Sebi is encouraging holding of securities in demat form by the investors, at present a few investors hold securities in physical form. Although it is legally permissible to hold securitie

Investors open 5.4 million accounts, close 4.5 million last month

Sebi had carried out a detailed and thematic inspection of the Stocking Services Limited with the theme 'Multiple UCCs mapped to common email ID or common mobile number'

In the first nine months of 2024, 36 million demat accounts were added, buoyed by gains in the secondary market and record initial public offerings (IPOs)

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Monday ordered the attachment of bank accounts as well as shares and mutual fund holdings of Reliance Big Entertainment to recover dues of Rs 26 crore. Before this, the markets watchdog on November 14 sent a notice to Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt Ltd (now known as Rbep Entertainment Pvt Ltd) and asked the entity to pay dues within 15 days in a case pertaining to illegal diversion of funds in the matter of Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL). The attachment notice came after Reliance Big Entertainment failed to pay the fine imposed on it by the markets watchdog. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has ordered the attachment of bank, demat accounts and mutual fund folios of the entity to recover the pending dues. Going by the notice, dues of Rs 26 crore were pending with Reliance Big Entertainment, which included interest and recovery costs. As per the notice, Sebi said there is sufficient reason to believe that the defaulter may dispos

Timeline extended almost by a month for smoother implementation