The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on November 24, 2025, issued a Draft Circular for Public Comments on Ease of investments and ease of doing business measures – Review of the ‘Facility for Basic Services Demat Account (BSDA) for Financial Inclusion’.
SEBI had earlier issued a circular (June 28, 2024) revising the framework for Basic Services Demat Accounts (BSDA) to promote financial inclusion and ease of investing. Based on feedback from depositories, SEBI now proposes further changes to improve ease of investments and ease of doing business.
Based on representation received from the depositories and further deliberations with them, certain modifications are proposed in the circular with an aim to achieve the twin objectives of ease of investments and ease of doing business. The same are detailed as under:
• Ease of Investments
1. Exclusion of ZCZP Bonds from BSDA Valuation
• Zero Coupon Zero Principal (ZCZP) bonds are non-tradable, non-transferable, and have no monetary return.
• Including their face value in BSDA eligibility artificially inflates an investor’s portfolio.
• Proposal: ZCZP bonds should be excluded when calculating the portfolio value for BSDA eligibility.
2. Valuation of Delisted, Illiquid, and Suspended Securities
• The existing circular does not specify how to value delisted or illiquid securities for BSDA.
• Delisted securities:
o No active market or price discovery.
o Proposal: Treat like suspended securities → exclude from BSDA valuation.
• Illiquid securities:
o Still listed but rarely traded.
o Proposal: Use the last closing price for valuation.
• These valuation rules will not apply to promoter individuals.
• Ease of Doing Business
3. Reassessment of BSDA Eligibility
• Current rules require Depository Participants (DPs) to reassess eligibility at each BO’s billing cycle, which varies across investors and causes operational difficulty.
• Proposal: Reassess BSDA eligibility quarterly for all BOs, ensuring uniformity and simplifying operations.
4. Submission of Consent for Opting Out of BSDA
• At present, BOs must send consent only through their registered email if they wish to retain a regular demat account.
• This leads to delays, low responses, and compliance burden for DPs.
• Proposal: Allow consent through other authenticated channels, not just email, to improve convenience and reduce operational friction.
Draft circular on “Ease of investments and ease of doing business measures – Review of the Facility for Basic Services Demat Account (BSDA) for Financial Inclusion” is placed at Annexure-A. The comments/suggestions should be submitted latest by December 15, 2025, through the following link: https://www.sebi.gov.in/sebiweb/publiccommentv2/PublicCommentAction.do?doPublicComments=yes
[Circular No. SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD/P/CIR/XXXX/XXX]
