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As many as 47 entities, including Reliance Capital, Morgan Stanley India Financial Services and Muthoot Fincorp, are awaiting Sebi's approval to function as depository participants in the capital market.
A depository participant is an agent that acts as the interface between the investor and capital market.
Presently, the country has two depositories -- National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (India) Ltd (CDSL).
Among others, these depositories hold securities of investors in electronic form through a registered depository participant.
As per an updated list released by Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), applications of 39 entities is pending with the market regulator for permanent registration as depository participants, as on December 2, 2013.
Besides, eight entities have sought initial registration.
Out of the 39 applicants seeking permanent registration, 21 have applied for registering with CDSL while 17 are for NSDL.
Other applicants include Allahabad Bank, Edelweiss Securities, ING Vysya Bank and Punjab National Bank.
Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Capital has sought Sebi's nod for permanent registration at both the depositories.
Moreover, entities such as Manapuram Finance and Muthoot Fincorp have applied for initial registration with CDSL, while Angel Broking and Morgan Stanley India Financial Services have sought authorisation with NSDL.
As per the list, 19 applications are under process, while in 23 cases Sebi has sought clarifications from the applicants or the depository and is awaiting their response. The regulator has also sought comments from RBI in some cases.
There exist over 850 registered depository participants at the end of October.
