The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on February 13, 2026, issued the Consultation paper on Ease of doing business-Relaxations in the reporting requirements for stock brokers.
The following has been stated:
• The consultation paper proposes a set of relaxations to existing reporting requirements for stock brokers to improve ease of doing business and reduce compliance burdens without compromising regulatory oversight. Under the current framework, brokers are required to maintain and report detailed information on all bank and demat accounts, including tagging and reporting account status changes to stock exchanges.
• Under the proposed relaxations, certain demat accounts maintained by brokers who are also primary dealers would be exempted from tagging requirements if such accounts are used exclusively for non-broking activities, aligning treatment with existing exemptions provided to bank brokers. For brokers that are banks or primary dealers, the reporting requirement for bank accounts would be limited only to those used for stock broking activities. Additionally, SEBI has suggested removing some existing reporting obligations relating to demat accounts, and instead, depositories would directly share details of newly opened or closed demat accounts with stock exchanges under a joint mechanism to be agreed upon.
• Brokers would still be required to ensure that all newly opened bank and demat accounts are appropriately named per prescribed nomenclature, and report bank account openings and closures to stock exchanges within one week. The consultation period for stakeholders to provide comments on these proposals is open until early March 2026.
[Notification no. - SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD/P/CIR/2026]
