CDSL

Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDSL), established in 1999, serves as a platform for holding securities in dematerialised form. CDSL's offerings include the dematerialisation, transfer and settlement of securities. The company was founded for providing convenient and secure depository services at an affordable price to all investors dealing in the stock markets.

In February 1999, CDSL obtained a business commencement certificate from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

CDSL began operations with 30 employees and a small number of demat accounts and a handful of issuers in 1999. Over the years, it has evolved into a big entity with 279 employees and 20,801 live companies. It’s the second largest depository in the country after NSDL.

As of November 30, 2023, CDSL had a total of 10,09,72,870 investor accounts. The available securities for dematerialisation comprise 20,333 equity holdings, 28,965 debt instruments encompassing debentures, bonds, government securities, certificates of deposits, commercial paper, pass-through certificates and other similar instruments, along with 13,756 mutual fund units.

In 2002, Central Depository Services Ltd launched 'easi', an internet facility providing electronic access to securities information. In 2004, the depository introduced 'easiest' (electronic access to securities information and execution of secured transactions). By 2005, the number of active demat accounts surpassed 10 lakhs, signifying a growing user base. In 2007, CDSL launched SMART (SMS Alerts Related to Transactions), enhancing their services with an SMS alert facility.

In 2012, the company reached the milestone of 10,000 issuers admitting various securities into its system, including equities, bonds, mutual funds and certificates of deposits. By 2015, the number of active demat accounts exceeded 1 crore.

In June 2017, CDSL made its market debut with the listing on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after its initial public offering (IPO). It became the first depository in Asia-Pacific region and only the second globally to be listed on a stock exchange. The market capitalisation of CDSL stood at over ₹20,000 crore as of December 14, 2023. CDSL share price has surged more than 275% in the last three years.

CDSL business operations

Initially, CDSL was promoted by BSE Ltd, which later divested its stake in the company. Currently, leading stock exchanges like BSE, NSE and Metropolitan stock exchange deal with CDSL. The company offers services like e-voting, e-Locker catering to various needs of companies dealing in capital markets, mutual funds and insurance.

CDSL became the largest depository in India in terms of demat accounts in 2019 and it crossed 5 crore active demat accounts in 2021, becoming the first depository to achieve this milestone. The next year, the company introduced several features including demat debit and pledge instruction (DDPI), T+1 settlement, pay-in validation and electronic gold receipts (EGR), showcasing their commitment to innovation. In 2023, CDSL became the first depository to open over 9 crore demat accounts.

Financial Highlights

Consolidated revenue for FY23 stood at ₹555 crore, up 0.72% year-on-year from ₹551 crore in FY 2021-22. The company reported a profit of ₹280 crore in FY23 as against ₹313 crore in FY22. Total income of the depository in FY23 stood at ₹620 crore compared to ₹605 crore in FY22. The company made a total capital expenditure of ₹84 crore in FY23. Its earnings per share (EPS) increased to ₹26.41 in FY23 from ₹29.78 in the preceding financial year.