You will not be able to sell physical shares! Know how to change it to Demat

Physical share to Demat last date: March is an important month for you, if you trade in shares or stocks in Indian Equity Market. If you have not changed your physical shares to Demat form, you will not be able to sell them from next month. Earlier, companies used to issue an ownership certificate to equity shareholders, which are considered as a physical form of shares. Now, trade of shares or stocks is done through Demat account in a digital form. The Demat accounts are similar to bank accounts, which are opened with any stock broker or financial services firm. 

A person can open his/her Demat account with any of the stockbroking service providers and deposit the certificates of shares to change them into the dematerialised format. After the change in Demat form, all your shareholdings will reflect in your Demat portfolio. 

How to change your physical shares into Demat form

1. The first thing is to open a Demat account with any stock-broking company like Shrekhan, India Infoline, Zeroddha, HDFC Securities, ICICI Direct, Angel Broking, Motilal Oswal Securities, Religare etc. A Demat account can be opened online or offiline both.

2. You will be required to provide stock broking company with documents and information like Mobile no., PAN, address proof, e-mail id, bank account number, passport size photo, Aadhaar card etc. 

3. In case there are more than one owner or holder of equity, the Demat account will be opened with names of all the owners. 

4. After this process, the company shall provide the user with a trading ID and password. With the help of this trading password and ID, users can trade (Buy or Sell) his/her shares anytime during trading hours, using a website of that broking firm.

5. After this, a user would require to ask for Dematerialisation Request Form (DRF) to change his/her physical shares into Demat format. One form will be required for one holding in one company. 

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6. Now, the user will have to fill the DRF form, attach the original shares certificate and deposit the same to respective broking house. Make sure to keep a photocopy of your share certificates before depositing the original ones.  

7. The stockbroking company will give you a receipt and send those forms and certificates to the registrars of the respective companies. The process may take one month after which all your shareholdings will reflect in your Demat portfolio account. 

8. Now the user can watch out his/her shares in the Demat account and can check the prices of the same. The user will now be able to buy or sell these shares in the Demat account. 

9. Some broking companies charge account opening fee of Rs 250 to Rs 500, depending upon their terms and conditions. While some houses charge an annual maintenance fee of around Rs 300 to Rs 500 from the user.