Physical Shares to Demat in India: Process and the SEBI 2027 Window

A shoebox of old share certificates — yours, or a parent's — can be worth a great deal. The correct route depends on whose name is printed, how the shares were acquired, whether the originals exist, and whether they moved to IEPF. Here is how to identify the right process.

Why you have to dematerialise first

With effect from 1 April 2019, SEBI stopped allowing the transfer of securities held in physical form. Companies and their Registrars & Transfer Agents (RTAs) generally do not process transfers while securities remain in physical form. Transmission and transposition are exceptions, but the resulting securities are ultimately credited in demat form.

The final destination is therefore demat, but the first procedural step may be transmission, IEPF recovery, a duplicate-document request or an ownership correction.

Who the SEBI special window covers

The window runs from 5 February 2026 to 4 February 2027for physical securities sold or purchased before 1 April 2019. It can include eligible fresh lodgements and requests that were previously rejected, returned or left unattended. The original certificates and transfer records are central to the RTA's review, and the RTA makes the final eligibility decision.

Shares transferred through this window must be credited in demat form. SEBI's circular also applies a one-year lock-in from registration, during which the securities cannot be transferred, pledged or lien-marked.

What you'll need

• The original physical share certificate(s).
• A demat account (if you don't have one, you'll open one — see step 1).
• PAN card of the shareholder.
• Proof of identity and address.
• A cancelled cheque / bank details for the linked account.

The step-by-step process

1. 1

   Open a demat account

   Open a demat account with any Depository Participant (DP) — a broker or bank. The shares must be credited somewhere. If the certificate is in joint names, the demat account must be in the same order of names (or you'll need a transposition first).

2. 2

   Fill the Dematerialisation Request Form (DRF)

   Your DP gives you a DRF. Fill one per company and per certificate type. The names on the certificate must match the demat account exactly — a mismatch is the single most common reason a request is rejected.

3. 3

   Submit the certificates to your DP

   Hand over the DRF with the original certificates. Write 'Surrendered for Dematerialisation' across the face of each certificate as instructed. Get an acknowledgement.

4. 4

   RTA / company verification

   The DP sends the request to the company's RTA, which verifies the certificate against its records. If everything matches, they confirm the demat.

5. 5

   Shares credited to your demat

   On confirmation, the depository (NSDL/CDSL) credits the shares to your demat account. You can now hold, sell, or transfer them normally.

The special cases that trip people up

Most inherited-share stories aren't clean. Here are the ones that need extra steps:

How long does it take, and what does it cost?

A straightforward dematerialisation is typically about 30–45 daysfrom the day the DP submits your request to the RTA. Transmission and IEPF recovery take longer because of the extra verification. Costs vary widely between providers — there's the DP's demat charges plus the service fee for handling the paperwork — which is exactly where it pays to compare.