SEBI Extends Deadline For Demat Account Holders & Traders To File Nomination

The Securities and Exchange Board of India, a regulatory body for securities and commodity market in India under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance Government of India, has extended the deadline for demat account holders and traders to make nominations. Existing trading and demat account holders will have until March 2023 to nominate their accounts previously the deadline set was 31st March 2022. The regulatory agency stated in a circular dated February 24, 2022 that "In this regard, on the basis of representations received from various stakeholders, it has been decided that provisions with respect to freezing of accounts shall come into force with effect from March 31, 2023 instead of March 31, 2022."

On July 23, 2021, SEBI had made it mandatory to file nominations for all existing eligible trading and demat account holders. According to the circular of SEBI, all existing eligible trading and demat account holders must provide choice of nomination by March 31, 2023, or their trading and demat accounts will be frozen for debits.

The regulatory board also stated in the circular announced on Thursday that re-submission of nomination details will be optional for existing investors who provided nomination details previous to the publication of the circular issued on July 2021.

According to the circular of SEBI "existing investors who have not submitted nomination details till date and intend to submit their nomination or opt-out of nomination (not to nominate any one) may also be allowed to do so by way of two factor authentication (2FA) login on the internet trading platform for Stock Brokers/Depository Participants providing such services."

The details previously required in the form at Annexure A of the circular viz. mobile number, e-mail ID and identification details of the nominee(s)/ guardian(s) of the minor nominee(s) have been made optional, according to SEBI.

The circular can be read here.