Smart things you should know about depository

1. Depository is a place where financial securities are held in dematerialised form.

2. It is responsible for maintenance of ownership records and facilitation of trading in dematerialised securities.

3. Companies become members of depositories and keep electronic records of all their issued equity and debt securities with the depositories.


4. Two depositories are operational in India, National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) and Central Securities Depository Ltd (CDSL). There are various Depository Participants linked to each.

5. Demat services and electronic transaction in securities is provided by a depository along with the other entities like stock exchange, clearing corporation, registrar and transfer agent, custodian etc.

Content courtesy: Centre for Investment Education and Learning (CIEL).
Contributions by Girija Gadre, Arti Bhargava and Labdhi Mehta.