Nomination now optional for joint mutual fund portfolios; what MF investors must know

Capital markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has made the nomination for jointly held mutual fund accounts optional. It announced this in a circular dated April 30, 2024.

At present, the deadline for all current individual unit holders who own mutual fund units, either alone or jointly, nominate or opt out of nomination is June 30, 2024; otherwise, the folios will be blocked for debits.

Mutual fund unit holders must provide nomination details in a specified format and opt out of nomination through a prescribed declaration form. If a holder does not nominate or opt out of nomination by 30 June 2024, folios/demat account will be frozen.


According to the Sebi circular, “It has been decided that the requirement of nomination specified underclause17.16 of the Master Circular for Mutual Funds shall be optional for jointly held Mutual Fund folios.”

Adding further “All other provisions related to requirement of nomination as provided in SEBI Master Circular No. SEBI/HO/IMD/IMD-PoD-1/P/CIR/2023/74 dated May 19, 2023and SEBICircular No. SEBI/HO/MIRSD/POD-1/P/CIR/2023/193 dated December 27, 2023, shall remain unchanged.”

In the same circular, the regulator stated that a working group established by Sebi reviewed mutual fund regulations and recommended steps to facilitate ease of doing business. Several actions were taken.

A public consultation was conducted based on the working group's report, which asked for permission to allow fund houses to choose a single fund manager to supervise international and commodities investments and to make nominations for joint mutual fund accounts optional.

How to add nominee to demat account
Step 1: Click on the URL (http://nsdl.co.in/dpmplus.php)
Step 2: Subscribe for the facility. Enter the DP ID + Client ID + PAN and OTP
Step 3: Post successful authentication, submit the choice of selection i.e., Opt-in for nomination by clicking on ‘I wish to Nominate’ or opt-out of the nomination by clicking on ‘Optout’ of nomination.
Step 4: Click on ‘I wish to nominate’. Enter the details of the nominee(s) and then click on Save & Next.
Step 5: Confirm and verify the nomination details by an OTP authentication
Step 6: On successful submission of OTP at eSign Service Provider's page, Client will be then redirected to Protean eGov (formerly known as NSDL eGov) for Aadhaar eSign.
Step 7: Upon completion of the Aadhaar e-Sign,submit an OTP for completing the journey/process.

On successful submission of OTP, a final confirmation will be displayed.

According to the CAMS website, “Please note that if the required details are not registered within the stipulated timelines, transactions like Redemptions / SWP / Switch / STP will not be permitted in the applicable folios from 01-Jul-2024.”