Old Physical Share Certificates: SEBI's Window to Move Them to Demat

What it is

Since 1 April 2019, a listed company cannot register a transfer of shares held in paper form. The rule says transfer requests "shall not be processed unless the securities are held in the dematerialised form with a depository". Demat means the shares sit electronically in your account.

But some people paid for paper shares before that date, signed the transfer deed, and never got the shares moved into their own name. Think of a signed property agreement that was never registered. The paper trail exists, but the ownership record never caught up.

SEBI has opened a one-year special window for exactly these cases.

The key distinction

This is not a window for anyone who simply holds old certificates. It is for transfer deeds executed before 1 April 2019, where the transfer was never lodged, or was lodged and then rejected, returned or not attended to. The circular says the window covers securities "sold/purchased prior to April 01, 2019".

It also needs the original certificate. The circular's own table marks a case as not eligible when the original certificate is not available.

Earlier windows were narrower. A 2019 clarification let rejected or returned deeds be lodged again, with a cut-off of 31 March 2021. A July 2025 window reopened that for deeds lodged before the deadline. The current one also accepts fresh lodgements.

How it actually works

The window runs from 5 February 2026 to 4 February 2027. The person claiming the shares submits the original certificate, the transfer deed signed before April 2019, proof of purchase if available, KYC documents, a recent client master list of their demat account, and a notarised undertaking and indemnity.

The company or its registrar must verify PAN, identity and address of both sides. If the transferor cannot be traced, the company publishes a newspaper notice and waits 30 days for objections before it registers the transfer. Disputes between the two parties are not handled here, and neither are shares already moved to the Investor Education and Protection Fund.

Companies have 70 days from a complete request to process it. The shares are then credited only in demat form, and stay locked in for one year: no transfer, lien or pledge during that time.

A real example: 63 moons technologies (2026)

Why a second and third window at all? In its October 2025 consultation paper, SEBI said some investors could not complete the transfer because the person who sold them had died, a company that sold them had been struck off, the transferor could not be traced, or the papers went to the wrong registrar. Among requests to the eight largest registrars in the first 45 days of the July 2025 window, 66% were fresh lodgements for transfers made before April 2019.

Listed companies have since posted notices. 63 moons technologies' notice names its registrar, KFin Technologies, and asks for documents on or before 4 February 2027.

The lesson: an old paper share is only as good as the paperwork behind it. For pre-2019 deals, that paperwork now has a deadline.