Hey there!
The world of investing and trading is full of ups and downs with markets! One of the great benefits of being an India-based market participant is that we have a very active regulator (SEBI) working towards ensuring Investor Protection at all times.
SEBI has introduced a slew of measures in the recent past to ensure the robustness of the ecosystem. Two important changes that may affect you (in case, if you are not compliant already):
- Your PAN card needs to be mandatorily linked to your Aadhaar card
- You need to provide your choice of nomination to your Stock Broker
The last date to complete both of these activities is next Friday, 31st March 2023. Let me explain both of them:
- PAN-Aadhaar linking:
As per this SEBI circular, it is mandatory for everyone to link their PAN and Aadhaar numbers by 31st March, 2023. While almost all our users on Dhan have done this activity, we have sent reminder emails to those who haven’t yet.
As per regulation, if your PAN is not linked with your Aadhaar, your trading and demat account will be locked out of access and you won’t be able to invest or trade after 31st March 2023.
You can quickly check it yourself by entering your Aadhaar and PAN number at this link.
- Choice of Nomination:
As per this SEBI circular, it is mandatory to provide your choice of nomination to your Stock Broker by 31st March, 2023. Choice of nomination includes either (a) opting out of nomination or (b) opting in, by filling your nominee details.
On Dhan, most of our users are fully compliant as during our on-boarding process, users explicitly agree to opt-out of nomination process during the onboarding process and the same is recorded on your Account Opening Form (AOF) that is digitally e-signed when you finished your KYC and Onboarding on Dhan.
That said, Nominations are important and we encourage all our users to ensure you add nomination to your Trading & Demat account. To do so, you can go to your Dhan app > Profile Section > Add Nomination. Kindly note that updation of nomination details may take 24-48 hours as post approval, it is sent for registration across intermediaries like Depository and Stock Exchanges.
As always, you can always reach out at help@dhan.co if you have any queries regarding these regulations.
-Anirudha Basak
Product at Dhan