Issuance of Securities in dematerialized form

Issuance of Securities in dematerialized form in case of Investor Service Requests

1. As an on-going measure to enhance ease of dealing in securities markets by investors, it has been decided that listed companies shall henceforth issue the securities in dematerialized form only (vide Gazette Notification no. SEBI/LAD-NRO/GN/2022/66 dated January 24, 2022) while processing the following service request.
   
   i.Issue of duplicate securities certificate;
   ii.Claim from Unclaimed Suspense Account;
   iii.Renewal / Exchange of securities certificate;
   iv.Endorsement;
   v.Sub-division / Splitting of securities certificate;
   vi.Consolidation of securities certificates/folios;
   vii.Transmission;
   viii.Transposition
   
2. The securities holder/claimant shall submit duly filled up Form ISR-4 (to be hosted on the website of the Issuer Companies and the RTAs) as per the format attached to this circular along with the documents / details specified therein. For item nos. iii to viii in paragraph 1 above,the RTA/ Issuer Companies shall obtain the original securities certificate(s) for processing of service requests.
   
3. The RTA/ Issuer Companies shall verify and process the service requests and thereafter issue a ‘Letter of confirmation’ in lieu of physical securities certificate(s), to the securities holder/claimant within 30 days of its receipt of such request after removing objections, if any.
   
   a. The‘Letter of Confirmation’ shall be valid for a period of 120 days from the date of its issuance, within which the securities holder/claimant shall make a request to the Depository Participant for dematerializing the said securities.
   
   b. The RTA / Issuer Companies shall issue a reminder after the end of 45 days and 90 days from the date of issuance of Letter of Confirmation, informing the securities holder/claimantto submit the demat request as above, in case no such request has been received by the RTA / Issuer Company.
   
   c. In case the securities holder/claimant fails to submit the demat request within the aforesaid period, RTA/ Issuer Companies shall credit the securities to the Suspense Escrow Demat Account of the Company.
   
   d. The operational guidelines are detailed in the Annexure –A to this circular.
   
4. The common norms stipulated in SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD_RTAMB/P/CIR/2021/655 dated November 03, 2021 and SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD_RTAMB/P/CIR/2021/687 dated December 14, 2021 shall be applicable for all service requests listed above.
   
5. Stock Exchanges and Depositories are advised to:
   
   a) make necessary amendments to the relevant bye-laws, rules and regulations, operational instructions, as the case may be, for the implementation of the above circular; and
   
   b)bring the provisions ofthis circular to the notice of their constituents and also disseminate the same on the website.
   
6. This circular is being issued in exercise of powers conferred under Section 11 (1) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 to protect the interests of investors in securities and to promote the development of, and to regulate the securities market read with Regulation 101 of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements), 2015.
   
7. This circular is available on SEBI website at www.sebi.gov.inunder the categories “Legal Framework -> Circulars”.
   
8. The Circular shall come into force with immediate effect.

Annexure

Also Read: 

• Framework for operationalizing the Gold Exchange in India
• Securities and Exchange Board of India (Foreign Portfolio Investors) (Amendment) Regulations, 2022.
• Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements (Amendment)
• Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) (Amendment) Regulations, 2022.

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