SEBI directs listed companies to issue securities in dematerialized form only while processing various service request like Issue of duplicate securities certificate , endorsement, etc. ; effective immediately

The Securities Exchange Board of India ( “SEBI”) through a circular have directed that listed companies from now onwards shall issue the securities in dematerialized form only 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;

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. 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. The operational guidelines are detailed in the Annexure – A.

Background : In pursuant to the above, the National Securities Depository Limited ( “NSDL”) also have requested its participants to abide by the SEBI guidelines for processing dematerialisation requests. A letter of confirmation in prescribed form issued by the Registrar & Transfer Agent/Issuer Companies in accordance with the SEBI guidelines can be accepted in place of the original share certificate(s) along with DRF ; and it shall remain valid for a period of 120 days from the date of its issuance.

For a detailed read, please refer to the hyperlink below.

Source : Securities Exchange Board of India