Last week, a Chandigarh man found forgotten share certificates of JSW Steel that his father bought in 1990 for Rs 1 lakh. The forgotten shares are now worth about Rs 80 crore. This is one of many stories that have emerged in India recently about finding purchase certificates of forgotten shares.
However, the SEBI does not accept physical certificates anymore, and the investors need to dematerialize them into electronic form. Looking at a time-consuming and tedious dematerializing process, Zerodha has set up a dedicated team to help such investors.
ALSO READWho is Sanjiv Bhasin: The rise, the fame and now, SEBI’s big ban
Nitin Kamath, the Chief Executive Officer of Zerodha, said on the X that they see such a circumstance as a real issue for the investor and want to help.
“We’ve set up a dedicated team to assist with the dematerialisation process. You don’t need to be a @zerodhaonline customer or even have an account with us; we’ll still help you convert your physical shares to demat.” Kamath added in post on X.
We often hear stories from investors, on social media and in real life, about holding physical share certificates; even discovering ones that belonged to their parents or grandparents.
Today, SEBI no longer permits the transfer of physical shares, except in specific cases like… pic.twitter.com/IQsIkLlNRV
— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) June 17, 2025 Process to dematerialize the shares on Zerodha
On its website, Zerodha has outlined the requirements and process to dematerialize the old purchased shares in the physical format. The customer needs to courier all documents such as the Completed Dematerialisation Request Form (DRF), self-attested PAN card copy, original share certificates, and address proof documents of the investor.
Zerodho says that it will process the document, and the dematerialization process could take up to 25 days. The company has also listed its charges, which are Rs 50 plus 18 percent GST per share certificate and Rs 100 plus 18 percent GST courier fee per request.
Last date for dematerialization
While there is no last date for dematerialization of physical shares, SEBI has encouraged investors to convert the physical shares to demat form. The demat process, along with security, also enhances convenience for investors. In demat form,
» Read More
