Demat accounts have completely transformed the stock market in India. Shares were traded earlier in the form of paper certificates and was very difficult for investors to preserve and trade in them. With the dematerialization of securities, the trading mechanism was electrified, and stock trading became relatively easier.
Demat accounts are opened on depositories through depository participants or DPs. There are two depositories in India namely NSDL and CDSL. Depository participant are participating members of depositories who are authorized for opening and managing Demat accounts of clients. There are hundreds of depository participants available and an investor can choose anyone depending on the facilities and charges.
However, once you have your demat account in place and you start trading, there are chances that you can get a better demat account from another depository participant or your current DP is not proving you the services as promised. In such a case, you will surely look forward for changing your demat account. Opening a new demat account is relatively easy but transferring your holdings from your old demat account to new one is not.
Let us now discuss about the ways and steps of transferring your stocks and holdings from one demat account to another.
Table of Content
Transfer Your Shares from One Demat Account to Another
Transferring Holdings
There can be various reasons for transferring your holdings from one demat account to another. You have multiple demat accounts and want to merge all your holdings into one, or it can be the other way around, you want to segregate your holdings into multiple accounts. Whatever be the reason, there can be two type of transfers which are possible – Inter-depository transfer and intra-depository transfer.
- Intra-Depository Transfer - Your current demat account was with NSDL and your new demat account is on CDSL or vice versa. Now you want to transfer your holdings between two different depositories. Such a transfer is known as inter – depository transfer.
- Inter-Depository Transfer - This is relatively easy because your old demat account and new demat account are both with the same depository. Such a transfer of holdings is known as intra – depository transfer.
Now, you can transfer your securities from one demat account to new demat account using a manual offline method or an online method. Let us now discuss about both of them in detail.
Manual (Offline) method
The manual method for transferring holdings from one demat to another requires some paperwork. The first and foremost step is to obtain the DIS (Delivery Instruction Slip) from your broker. Once you have the DIS, you need to obtain the BOID (Beneficiary Owner ID) number. This is a 16-digit number which serves as an ID of your broker. SO, there will be two different BO IDs, first for your old demat provider and the second one the new one.
Once you have all these sorted, you need to have the ISIN (International Security Identification Number) of each share which you want to transfer. Now if both your demat accounts are with the same depository you need to choose off-market transfer option, else it will be an inter-depository transfer.
Once you have accumulated all the information, you need to fill up the transfer form available with your broker and provide your consent signature. The signature should match with the one which you provided at the time of opening the demat account.
If you are closing the old account, the broker will not charge any fee for this transfer otherwise the broker may charge you some amount as transfer fee.
Online Method
The CDSL has introduced an online method for transferring securities known as EASIEST. As the name suggests it is an easy process to transfer your holdings from one demat account to another.
You simply need to register yourself on the CDSL website under the EASIEST option by providing all the requisite details. AT the end of the registration you will come across a form with all the details. All you need to do is to take a printout the form and submit it to your depository participant. The depository participant will send it to the depository, which will approve it after verification of the details. Once the information is verified, you will receive and email containing your login credentials.
You can now use these credentials to login to the EASIEST portal. Once you have logged in you will see a list of all the depository participants. You can select your broker from the list and transfer your holdings and securities.
Tax Implications
Since the securities are transferred between two different demat accounts of the same person, there are no extra tax implications on such transfers. However, the Capital Gain Tax for such securities will be calculated from the first day of the purchase of stock and will be unaffected with the transfer.
Conclusion
Transferring securities in dematerialized form is an easy process and investors can transfer their securities if they wishes to change his demat account for any reason. If you want more help an investment advisor can guide you with the process of transfer and also help you in trading by providing research-based trade recommendations.
Happy Investing!
