SEBI worried about 72% demat and 6% mutual fund accounts, deliberately not making nominees

The number of demat account holders in the country is continuously increasing, but despite market regulator SEBI extending the deadline for adding nominees in demat and mutual fund accounts thrice, details of nominee are not available in 72% of demat accounts and 6% of mutual fund accounts.

According to the report released by SEBI, out of about 13.91 crore demat account holders in the country, 9.8 crore people have not given the details of their nominee. 9.51 crore account holders have deliberately chosen not to enrol. At the same time, about 2.76% investors are confused and have neither filed nomination nor opted for exit.

Unlike Demat, nominee details have been filled in 86% of mutual fund accounts. Out of 8.90 crore mutual fund folios, only 6% have opted for exit by not filing nomination while 8% have neither filled nomination nor opted for exit. SEBI says that this attitude of investors can create a big risk for them.

According to market analysts, discount stock brokers are largely responsible for this difference between demat and mutual fund accounts. They ignore the nomination process and ignore it. That means, the nominations are being updated without the consent of the account holders.

Account holders may suffer losses because...

- Out of 13.64 crore demat accounts, 9.8 crore accounts are such in which nomination details are not filed yet.

- 69.73% i.e. 9.51 crore demat account holders deliberately chose not to make nomination while about 2.76% are confused.

- Out of 8.91 crore mutual fund folios, only 6% chose to exit by not making nomination, 8% were confused about nomination.