What is the Present Position of Depositories?

Present Position of Depositories : Setting up of depository is a major development in
the Indian capital market. SEBI has granted registration to two depositories, namely, the
National Securities Depository Ltd. (NSDL) and the Central Depository Services (India)
Ltd. (CDSL) under the Depository Act, 1996. As on 31 March, 2001 there were 431
depository participants offering depository services from around 335 cities throughout the
country and more then 36 lakh investor accounts have been opened ` 4,35,000 crore
worth of securities have been dematerialised by 31 March, 2001. The number of
dematerialised shares increased from 6,970 million as on March 1999 to 15,500 million as
on March 2000. According to NSDL and CDSL, 1,013 companies with a market
capitalisation of over ` 7,00,000 crore had signed agreement with the depositories. As on
31 March 2000, the depository services were available at 1,000 centres covering 200 cities
across the country and there were 1,500 crore shares dematerialised having a value of `
4,00,000 crore. The volume of dematerialised securities constitute around 80 to 90 per
cent. of the total delivery of securities at the NSEIL and BSE together and major 10 stock
exchanges have established connectivity with NSDL for settlement and clearing of
dematerialised trading. (Ref India 2001).