SEBI opens special one-year window for transfer, demat of physical shares; check details

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India on Friday announced a one-year special window to facilitate transfer and dematerialisation of physical securities that were bought or sold prior to April 1, 2019.

The special window will be open from February 5, 2026 to February 4, 2027, and will allow investors to re-lodge transfer requests of physical shares, including those that were earlier rejected, returned or not attended to due to documentation or procedural deficiencies .

This will help investors regularise and complete transfer-cum-dematerialisation of securities and would facilitate such investors to get rightful access to their assets.

The regulator has made it mandatory from April 1, 2019, for all share transfers to be carried out only in dematerialised form.

However, several investors, particularly those with legacy holdings or incomplete paperwork, had faced hurdles in complying with the new rules.

In a circular issued on Friday, SEBI said, "For investors who were unable to transfer their physical securities prior to April 1, 2019 due to various reasons, including procedural or documentation related challenges, the special window will open from February 5, 2026 to February 4, 2027.”

Under the framework, securities transferred through this route will be credited only in demat form and will be subject to a mandatory one-year lock-in from the date of registration of transfer.

During the lock-in period, such securities cannot be transferred, pledged or lien-marked, the regulator said.

SEBI clarified that the window is applicable only where the transfer deed was executed prior to April 1, 2019, and the original share certificate is available.

Cases where certificates are missing or where securities have already been transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) will not be eligible.

Disputed cases between transferor and transferee will also be excluded and must be resolved through courts or the NCLT.

To avail of the window, investors will be required to submit original security certificates, duly executed transfer deeds, proof of purchase where available, KYC documents, an attested client master list of the demat account, and an undertaking-cum-indemnity bond in the prescribed format,

SEBI has asked listed entities and RTAs to process eligible transfer requests within 70 days of receipt of complete documentation and to periodically publicise the availability of the special window through print and social media during the one-year period .