SEBI eases norms for duplicate shares certificates

• 27 Dec 2025
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Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has made the procedure for issuance of duplicate securities certificates much more simple for investors now in order to enhance ease of investing and protect the rights of the investors. On 24 December 2025, SEBI issued a circular to announce that there will be an increase in the threshold for simplified documentation from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh along with the standardization of key documents required for such requests. 

Under the revised framework of the market regular, investors who are holding securities valued at up to Rs 10 lakh will now need to submit a standardized Affidavit cum Indemnity bond. In addition to this, those individuals with securities valued at up to Rs 10,000 can provide a simple undertaking on plain paper without the need for notarization for these small value cases. 

It is important to note that for securities exceeding Rs 10 lakh, additional safeguards will still apply. This includes the requirement for FIRs or court-related documents as well as mandatory newspaper advertisements by listed companies. The SEBI paper stated, “Executing two different forms and paying separate stamp duty results in duplication of effort and financial inconvenience for the investors. In many cases, the value of securities may be less than the value of stamp duty. In such cases, payment of stamp duty on two different instruments may not be logical”.

SEBI has formalized the existing industry practice of advertising lost shares in a new circular. This circular mandates that listed companies will publish newspaper advertisements on behalf of investors to announce lost shares. While this practice formalizes what has already been done in the market, companies may charge a minimal fee for such advertisements. 

The revised norms are effective immediately and will also apply to pending requests. This means that there is no need to resubmit documents that have already been provided and will save a lot of time and effort. "The revised provisions shall also be made applicable to ongoing requests for issuance of duplicate securities which are under process to give benefit of the simplified procedure to the investors. However, if certain documents have already been submitted by the investor, listed companies/RTAs shall not insist on re-submission of such documents in the new formats", the SEBI circular mentioned.

As per SEBI, the new measures aim to make the process more efficient and investor friendly while also encouraging dematerialisation as duplicate securities will be issued only in demat form. Investment advisers note that regulatory complexities have resulted in emergence of a parallel service ecosystem where investors are charged steep fees for facilitation of such processes. In many cases, these charges exceed the actual value of the securities involved. As a result, it becomes quite impractical for investors and many of them choose to abandon their claims altogether.

Source: Money Control