The Sebi move follows a consultation paper the market watchdog issued in November to ease investor compliance and remove inconsistencies. The regulator said the Rs 5 lakh threshold was too small, no longer reflected current market realities, and imposed an avoidable procedural burden on investors.
The changes were made via a circular issued late Wednesday and the provisions of this circular came into force immediately.
Here’s what investors must know:
The overhaul will ensure that investors holding securities valued up to Rs 10 lakh will now be required to submit fewer documents.
1) Sebi has prescribed a standardised Affidavit-cum-Indemnity Bond format and rationalised documentation for securities valued above Rs 10 lakh.
2) To further reduce the compliance burden, notarisation of the Affidavit-cum-Indemnity Bond will no longer be required in cases where the value of securities is up to Rs 10,000.
3) These measures aim at ease of investments for investors and facilitate restitution of investor rights in securities. As duplicate securities issued would necessarily be in demat mode, this will result in increased dematerialisation.
4) Sebi circular directs all listed companies and RTAs (registrar and transfer agents) to process requests strictly in line with the revised procedure.
5) However, Sebi clarified that investors who have already submitted documents under the old framework will not be required to resubmit them in the new formats.
Old requirements
Sebi prescribed the documentary and procedural requirements for issuing duplicate share certificates through its June 23, 2025 master circular.
Under the previous rules, if the securities’ value was Rs 5 lakhs or more the security holder was required to submit a copy of FIR or e-FIR/police complaint or court injunction order along with details of the securities, folio number, distinctive number range and certificate numbers.
They were also required to advertise the loss of securities in a widely circulated newspaper. Moreover, the investors must also submit an affidavit and indemnity bond separately on non-judicial stamp paper.
The Sebi paper noted that the value of securities could be less than the value of stamp duty in many cases, and hence the payment of stamp duty on two different instruments may not be logical.
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