Around 4 lakh demat accounts frozen by depositories: Sinha

These demat accounts have been frozen by Central Depository Services Ltd and National Securities Depository Ltd due to non-compliance with mandatory PAN provisions

Nearly four lakh demat accounts with securities worth Rs 4,755 crore have been frozen by the top depositories till March 2015, Parliament was informed today.

These demat accounts have been frozen by Central Depository Services Ltd (CDSL) and National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) due to non-compliance with mandatory Permanent Account Number (PAN) provisions.

Investors were required to provide PAN card details for opening demat accounts from April 2006.

"The total number of frozen accounts as on March 31, 2015 were 3,78,902 with a total holdings being Rs 4,755 crore," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

"...The depositories have sent letters to the concerned beneficial owners asking them to update their PAN details with their depository participant. The depositories have also informed the investors of the same through emails, SMS alerts, investor depository meetings, newspapers advertisements etc," he added.

These depositories had frozen a total of 43,51,794 accounts as on December 31, 2006 due to non-compliance with PAN requirements.

About 90 per cent of the frozen accounts have already been unfrozen since January 2007.