Transmission of securities to nominee – can holdings be split across two demat accounts?

Hi everyone,

I am currently going through the transmission process for my late father’s demat account, where I am the registered nominee. The demat account is with National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

My intention is to transfer the securities as follows:

  • Equities and other securities → my demat account with Zerodha (CDSL)
  • Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) → a new demat account with NSDL

The reason for this is that SGBs held in NSDL sometimes cannot be moved directly to Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDSL) without undergoing a rematerialization and dematerialization process, which is generally considered cumbersome and rarely recommended.

Opening a new NSDL account for the SGBs seems reasonable, but I would prefer that the equities be transmitted directly to my Zerodha account instead of first transmitting everything to a Kotak account and then doing an off-market transfer later (which would incur transfer charges).

My question to the community and anyone familiar with industry practices is:

  • Is split transmission to two demat accounts for the same nominee generally allowed in the industry?
  • Or do depositories/brokers typically require transmission to only one destination demat account, after which securities must be moved manually?

I’m trying to understand whether this limitation is regulatory, depository-level, or simply broker operational policy.

Any insights from people who have dealt with similar transmission cases would be very helpful.

Tagging @ShubhS9 from the Zerodha team for guidance on the industry practice in such transmission cases.

Thanks in advance.