The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Tuesday proposed making it easier for investors to get duplicate securities certificates in case their original ones are lost.
The regulator said the current process is complicated and often inconvenient because different companies and registrars follow different rules.
At present, investors must file a police complaint or FIR, publish a notice in a newspaper, and submit separate affidavits and indemnity bonds. These rules are relaxed only when the value of the lost securities is below Rs 5 lakh.
SEBI now wants to increase this limit to Rs 10 lakh. The regulator said that market capitalisation, investor participation, and portfolio sizes have grown significantly in recent years, so the older threshold needs to be updated.
“To provide ease of investment and procedural convenience to the investors, it is proposed to increase the limits for simplified documentation for issuance of duplicate securities from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh,” the market regulator said.
If the proposal is approved, investors with securities valued below Rs 10 lakh will only need to provide a single combined affidavit-cum-indemnity bond.
This will replace the current requirement of two different stamped documents.
“If the value of securities as on the date of submission of application, along with complete documentation as prescribed by the Board does not exceed Rs 10 lakhs, the security holder shall submit an Affidavit-cum-Indemnity bond as per the format prescribed by the Board, on a non-judicial stamp paper of appropriate value as prescribed by the Stamp Act of the state where the claimant resides,” the market regulator added.
For cases where the value is above Rs 10 lakh, filing an FIR or similar complaint will continue to be necessary.
SEBI said these changes would make the process simpler, reduce costs for investors, and help protect the rights of those who still hold physical security certificates.
All duplicate certificates issued in the future will be in dematerialised form, supporting the broader move towards complete dematerialisation of securities in India.
