SEBI Nomination Rules 2025: Up to 10 Nominees for Demat and MF

If you hold shares in a demat account or units in a mutual fund folio, the people most affected by these rules are sole holders who have never added a nominee, NRIs who manage Indian securities from abroad, and families who will one day need to claim those assets. Under the SEBI circular dated 10 January 2025 you can now name up to 10 nominees, and a sole holder must either nominate or formally opt out. This is the securities rule, which is separate from how your bank account nomination works.

The exact screens differ between depositories and fund houses, but the steps are broadly the same. You always file the nomination yourself.

1. Log in to your depository participant, broker, or the registrar and transfer agent portal such as CAMS or KFin, or use the NSDL or CDSL investor facility for your demat account.
2. Open the nomination or beneficiary section for the specific demat account or mutual fund folio.
3. Enter each nominee with name, relationship, and the identity details the platform asks for. You may add up to 10 nominees.
4. Set the percentage share for each nominee so that the shares add up to 100 percent. If you leave shares blank, the assets are divided equally.
5. If you do not wish to nominate anyone, choose the opt-out declaration instead. Sole holders must pick one of the two.
6. Authenticate the request, usually through an OTP or e-sign, and save the acknowledgement for your records.

For years an investor could name at most 3 nominees, and the rules around opting out and transmission were uneven across demat accounts and mutual funds. The SEBI circular dated 10 January 2025 overhauled this for securities. The headline change is the jump to a maximum of 10 nominees, which lets you split holdings across a larger family.

Three further points matter in practice. First, the nomination must be made by you, the investor; a power of attorney holder cannot do it on your behalf. Second, where you name more than one nominee, you should state the percentage share for each, and if you do not, the holding is divided equally among them. Third, the framework expects sole holders to act, by either nominating or filing a formal opt-out declaration. The reforms are now in force, having taken effect during 2025.

In March 2026 SEBI floated a separate consultation proposal to cap the number of nominees at 4, citing operational issues and very low use of multiple nominees. That is only a proposal open for public comment, not a notified rule. As of now the limit remains up to 10 nominees, so do not change your plans on the strength of the proposal alone.

A common and costly misunderstanding is that the nominee becomes the owner of the shares or units. They do not. A nominee is a trustee who receives the assets so that they can be passed to the rightful legal heirs under the applicable succession law or a valid will.

The Supreme Court settled this for company shares and securities in Shakti Yezdani v. Jayanand Jayant Salgaonkar (2023 INSC 1076). The Court held that nomination under the Companies Act does not create a third mode of succession and does not give the nominee absolute ownership. Vesting in the nominee means holding, not owning. So even after assets are transmitted to a nominee, the heirs can claim their rightful share. Keeping a clear, up-to-date will alongside your nominations avoids family disputes later.

When the account holder dies and there is no surviving joint holder, the nominees ask for the assets to be transmitted to them. The process is document-driven and broadly similar across providers.

1. Identify whether the holding is a demat account or a mutual fund folio, and who the registered nominees are.
2. Submit a transmission request form to the depository participant for demat holdings, or to the registrar and transfer agent or the AMC for mutual fund units.
3. Attach the death certificate, the nominee KYC documents, and any other proof the provider asks for, such as identity and bank details.
4. Track the request and respond to any deficiency notice promptly, since missing documents are the usual cause of delay.

If a genuine transmission request is stuck, escalate through the provider grievance route and then to SEBI SCORES. Our guide on a mutual fund nominee claim stuck walks through that escalation, and the demat shares missing complaint guide covers depository disputes.

You can name up to 10 nominees in a demat account or a mutual fund folio under the SEBI circular dated 10 January 2025, against the earlier limit of 3.

No. SEBI requires that the nomination be made by the investor. A power of attorney holder cannot make or change the nomination on your behalf.

If you name more than one nominee but do not specify shares, the assets are divided equally among them. To control the split, state a percentage for each so they add up to 100 percent.

A sole holder must either add a nominee or submit a formal opt-out declaration. The framework no longer lets a sole-holding account simply leave the field blank.

The securities pass to the surviving joint holder or holders, not to the nominee. Nominees come into the picture only when all the joint holders have died.

No. The nominee is a trustee who holds the assets for the legal heirs. The Supreme Court confirmed this in Shakti Yezdani v. Jayanand Jayant Salgaonkar (2023 INSC 1076).

SEBI floated a consultation proposal in March 2026 to cap nominees at 4, but that is only a proposal under public comment. The current limit remains up to 10 nominees.

This SEBI rule covers securities, that is demat accounts and mutual fund folios. Bank deposits follow separate banking rules. See our guide on bank account nomination rules 2025.

• SEBI circular dated 10 January 2025 on nomination for demat accounts and mutual fund folios.
• Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
• Depositories NSDL and CDSL.
• Shakti Yezdani v. Jayanand Jayant Salgaonkar (2023 INSC 1076), Supreme Court of India.

• Bank account nomination rules 2025
• Mutual fund nominee claim stuck with the AMC or RTA
• Demat shares missing or wrongly pledged complaint
• AI RTI Drafter
• RTI Act 2005
• The RTI Playbook