In a move aimed at enhancing investor convenience and safeguarding the rights of investors, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has announced the opening of a special window for the re-lodgement of transfer deeds related to physical shares. This special initiative, detailed in SEBI Circular dated July 2, 2025, will be active from July 07, 2025, to January 06, 2026.
This window offers a significant opportunity for investors who, for various reasons, could not complete the transfer of physical shares prior to SEBI’s deadline of April 1, 2019.
Background
In April 2019, SEBI had mandated that all share transfers must take place only in dematerialised (demat) form, effectively bringing an end to the era of paper-based share transfers. This was done to improve transparency, reduce fraud, and enhance the ease and safety of investing. However, many investors found themselves caught in a transitional gray area.
Numerous transfer requests submitted before the April 1, 2019 cut-off date were either:
Rejected due to documentation deficiencies,
Returned due to incomplete processing, or
Not acted upon at all.
This left several investors in limbo, holding physical share certificates that were essentially frozen in terms of transferability.
What the Special Window Offers
The special window announced by SEBI allows such investors another chance to re-lodge these earlier transfer requests. Here’s what it means for investors:
Eligibility Criteria:
The original transfer request must have been lodged before April 01, 2019.
The request was either rejected, returned, or left unattended due to issues such as incomplete documentation or procedural deficiencies.
Timeframe:
The window is open from July 07, 2025, to January 06, 2026.
Investors and trading members must act within this period to avail of this one-time opportunity.
Investor Protection:
This move reaffirms SEBI’s commitment to protecting long-term retail investors and ensuring their rightful ownership in the securities market is respected.
It prevents loss of investment due to past administrative or documentation oversights.
Ease of Doing Investment:
The initiative aligns with SEBI’s broader goal of enhancing the ease of investing and removing historical bottlenecks in the transfer process.
It supports a more inclusive capital market by allowing legacy investors to regularize their holdings.
What Investors Should Do
Review any rejected or pending physical share transfers submitted before April 2019.
Prepare necessary documentation to correct earlier deficiencies.
Coordinate with the concerned Registrar and Transfer Agents (RTAs) or broker/trading member to re-lodge the request within the stipulated window.
