Suppose I had a demat account with Broker X, which also acted as the depository participant (DP). I had ₹1 lakh in that account but forgot about it for 15 years. When I realized my broker and DP had closed, can I still recover my securities?
From what I’ve read, if a broker closes, I must transfer my shares to another demat account via the CDSL Easiest portal, with the DP approving the transaction. But in this case, since the DP is also closed, who would approve the transfer? Also, my demat account is inactive, and reactivating it requires contacting my broker and DP—both of which are closed.
Hi @Sayantan2003 , if a broker has closed operations or defaulted, like in Karvy case, the demat accounts remain safe with the depository. In Karvy’s case, IIFL Securities acquired the demat accounts through a formal bidding process, and clients had to complete re-KYC and submit documents to activate their accounts.
Once activated, investors could manage their holdings or transfer them to another broker using DIS or the CDSL Easiest route.
Before that, it’s best to contact the depository (CDSL or NSDL) directly. If yu have the demat number or PAN, they can verify and give you the account status.
Also, if any stocks paid dividends while the account was inactive, unclaimed amounts and shares may have been transferred to the IEPF. So first, need to verify with the depository and then proceed with the broker or transfer steps.
But as he said that who would approve the cdsl easiest authentication request to transfer shares as this is to be authenticated by dp but in this case dp is closed or defaults which results in no authentication of easiest login.
Also when iifl acquires karvy it was not instant and the time between acquisition we can’t do anything.
Also this is the case with karvy suppose if karvy was not acquired by any other broking firm then what should investors do as then there will be no one to authenticate cdsl easiest and we cannot access our portfolio from any other broker as nobody has acquired it.
The main doubt for me is that who will authenticate cdsl easiest in case of broker shutdown or default.