Your demat account can be frozen if you fail to meet SEBI's March 31 deadline

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made it mandatory for all demat and trading account holders to have a nominee and the last date to add a nomination is March 31, 2023. The demat account will be frozen if investors fail to meet the deadline. Here are all the details of how to add a nominee to the demat account.

SEBI moved forward the deadline for nominations from March 2022 to March 2023. The decision was taken after taking inputs from different stakeholders.

Demat account nominee: Existing investors

Existing investors who have already provided nomination details are not required to resubmit the nomination details.

Investors can submit or withdraw their nominations via two-factor authentication login on trading platforms for stock brokers or depository participants that offer such a service. The nominee's mobile phone number, email address and identification information are optional.

Demat account nominee: New Investors

Investors who have created new trading and demat accounts must provide a nomination or opt out of nomination through a declaration form. The declaration form should be signed by the account holder. However, there is no witness required while filing the nomination.

Nomination or declaration forms can also be filled online using the e-sign facility which does not require a witness signature until the account holder uses a thumb impression instead of a signature.

Demat account nominee: How to add a nominee to the demat account

Step 1: Log in to your demat account.

Step 2: Navigate to 'My nominees' under the profile segment, which will redirect to the nominee details page.

Step 3: Choose 'add nominee' or 'opt-out'.

Step 4: Fill out the nominee details and upload an ID proof of the nominee.

Step 5: Enter the nominee share in percentage that the investor would like to assign to the nominee after uploading the required documentation.

Step 6: E-sign the document with Aadhaar OTP. The details of the nominee will be processed.