Big Relief for Investors: SEBI Reopens Window to Transfer Physical Shares

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued an official Circular SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD/P/CIR/2025/97 dated July 02, 2025, in exercise of powers conferred under Section 11 (1) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992, read with regulation 102 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 and SEBI (Registrars to an Issue and Share Transfer Agents) Regulations, 1993. The circular is addressed to all registered Registrars and Share Transfer Agents (RTAs), Recognised Stock Exchanges, and Listed Companies (via the stock exchanges) with the subject “Ease of Doing Investment – Special Window for Re-lodgement of Transfer Requests of Physical Shares.”

The circular states that, before April 1, 2019, investors were allowed to transfer physical share certificates (paper format). After that (from April 1, 2019), SEBI stopped the transfer of shares in physical mode to promote transparency and efficiency via demat (electronic) mode only.

SEBI then confirmed that if anyone submitted their physical share transfer documents before April 1, 2019; however, and their request was rejected or returned because of incomplete documents, they were permitted to resubmit or relodge the documents with corrections before March 31, 2021.

SEBI received several complaints from investors and other stakeholders (such as listed companies and RTAs), saying numerous individuals had earlier missed their due date, i.e., March 31, 2021. Therefore, they were not able to resubmit (reload) their documents and got stuck in the middle, even though they paid for them.

To resolve this problem, SEBI discussed it with a panel of experts, including RTAs, listed companies, and a legal expert. In the discussion, the panel recommended awarding one more chance to these individuals to reload physical transfer requests.

SEBI accepted the recommendation, and to help investors and protect their rights, it announced a special window for re-lodging physical share transfer requests. The following are the conditions:

• Eligible Individuals: Investors who submitted physical share transfer documents before April 1, 2019, but whose requests were rejected, returned, or not attended to due to issues in documents or process.
• Time period for re-lodgement: A new six-month window is being given from July 7, 2025, to January 6, 2026.
• In what form will shares be issued? These shares will not be reissued in physical form. Instead, they will be transferred directly into the investor’s demat account (this is called transfer-cum-demat). The proper procedure will be followed by the RTAs and listed companies.

Other Instructions from SEBI

Publicity:

• All stock exchanges, listed companies, and RTAs must spread awareness about this special window. They should use both print and social media to inform people about this opportunity. This publicity must be done every two months during the six-month period.

Dedicated Teams:

• RTAs and listed companies must set up special teams just to handle these re-lodgement requests efficiently.

Monthly Reports:

RTAs and listed companies must submit monthly reports to SEBI with the following details (given in Annexure-A):

• Number of re-lodgement requests received
• Number of requests processed
• Number of requests approved
• Number of requests rejected
• Average time taken to process each request (in days)

SEBI has taken this move to protect investors and promote fair and transparent practices in the securities market. The circular is available on the SEBI website under Legal → Circulars.

Refer to the official notification for more related information.