CIRCULAR
SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD1/P/CIR/2024/91 June 28, 2024
To,
The Depositories
The Depository Participants (DPs)
Sir / Madam,
Sub: Facility for Basic Services Demat Account (BSDA) for Financial Inclusion
and Ease of Investing
1. With the objective of achieving wider financial inclusion to encourage holding of
demat accounts and to facilitate ease of investing, SEBI, vide circular no.
CIR/MRD/DP/22/2012 dated August 27, 2012 read with Circular
MRD/DoP2DSA2/CIR/P/2019/51 dated April 10, 2019 and Para 1.8.1 to para 1.8.5
of the Master Circular for Depositories dated October 06, 2023 provided for the
facility of “Basic Services Demat Account” with a set of defined services for eligible
individuals.
2. In order to further boost participation in securities market, ease of doing
investments and based on representations from market participants, the facility has
been comprehensively reviewed and the following has been decided:
2.1. Eligibility for BSDA
An individual shall be eligible to opt for BSDA subject to the following
conditions:
a) The individual has or proposes to have only one demat account where
he/she is the sole or first holder.
b) The individual shall have only one BSDA in his/her name across all
depositories.
c) Value of securities held in the demat account shall not exceed ` 10
Lakhs for debt and other than debt securities combined at any point of
time.
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2.2. Opening of BSDA and conversion of existing eligible demat accounts
into BSDA
a) The DPs shall open only BSDA for Beneficial Owners (BOs), if such
demat accounts are eligible for BSDA as per para 2.1 above, unless
such BOs specifically provide their consent by way of email from their
email-id registered with the DP to avail the facility of a regular demat
account.
b) The DPs shall also reassess the eligibility of all the existing BOs with
respect to BSDA as provided in para 2.1 above within two months from
the date of this circular coming into effect and shall convert all such
eligible demat accounts into BSDA unless such BOs specifically provide
their consent by way of email from their email-id registered with the DP
to continue to avail the facility of a regular demat account. Later, this
exercise shall be carried out by DPs at the end of every billing cycle.
2.3. Charges
a) The charge structure shall be as indicated below:
Value of Holdings in the Demat Maximum Annual
Account (Debt as well as other than Maintenance Charges
debt securities combined)
Up to ` 4 lakhs NIL
More than ` 4 lakhs but up to ` 10 lakhs ` 100
Not a BSDA. Regular
More than ` 10 lakhs
AMC may be levied.
b) It is emphasized that other than AMC as specified above, BSDA shall be
treated at par with non-BSDA for the purpose of levying charges for
various other services and DPs shall not levy higher charges to BSDA.
c) The value of holding shall be determined by the DPs on the basis of the
daily closing price or NAV of the securities or units of mutual funds, as
the case may be. Where such price is not available, the last traded price
may be taken into account and for unlisted securities other than units of
mutual funds, face value may be taken in to account. The value of
suspended securities may not be considered for the purpose of
determining eligibility of demat account as BSDA.
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d) If the value of holding in such BSDA exceeds the prescribed criteria at
any date, the DPs may levy charges as applicable to regular accounts
(non-BSDA) from that date onwards.
2.4. Services for Basic Services Demat Accounts
a) Electronic statements shall be provided free of cost.
b) Physical statement may be charged at a fee not exceeding ` 25/- per
statement.
c) All other conditions as applicable to regular demat accounts, other than
the ones mentioned above, shall continue to apply to basic services
demat account.
3. This circular shall come into effect from September 01, 2024 in supersession of
para 1.8.1 to para 1.8.5 of the Master Circular for Depositories dated October 06,
2023.
4. The Depositories are advised to:-
4.1. make amendments to the relevant bye-laws, rules and regulations for the
implementation of the above decision immediately, as may be
applicable/necessary;
4.2. bring the provisions of this circular to the notice of their DPs and also to
disseminate the same on their website;
4.3. put in place appropriate systems and procedures to ensure compliance of the
provisions of this circular; and
4.4. communicate to SEBI, the status of implementation of the provisions of this
circular in the Monthly Development Report.
5. This circular is being issued in exercise of powers conferred under section 11 (1)
of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 and section 19 of the
Depositories Act, 1996 to protect the interests of investors in securities and to
promote the development of, and to regulate the securities market.
6. This circular is available on SEBI website at www.sebi.gov.in under the
category: ‘Legal → Circulars’.
Yours faithfully,
Aradhana Verma
General Manager
Market Intermediaries Regulation and Supervision Department
Tel. No. 022-2644 9354
Email id – aradhanad@sebi.gov.in
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