SEBI, vide circular dated August 27, 2012 read with Circular 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.
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:
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
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 , 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 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.