SEBI SMARTODR and Exchange Arbitration After SCORES

Short on time? Jump to the step-by-step filing section. You can register at https://smartodr.in tonight with just your PAN, email and mobile number.

SCORES is the right first escalation. But SCORES is a grievance-redressal tracker: it pushes your complaint to the intermediary and records the Action Taken Report. It does not award you money or pass an order you can enforce against the broker.

So when SCORES closes your complaint and you are still out of pocket, you have not run out of road. SEBI built a second, stronger layer in 2023: the SMART ODR (Securities Market Approach for Resolution Through ODR) platform. This is where a neutral conciliator and, if needed, an arbitrator actually decide the dispute and order payment.

This page covers ONLY that post-SCORES SMARTODR layer and the exchange arbitration funnel. For how SCORES itself works, the 30-day Action Taken Report, the one-year limit and the SAT appeal, read the regulator complaint hub.

SEBI's ODR Master Circular sets a fixed sequence. You must move through it in order:

1. Complain to the market participant first. Lodge your grievance directly with the broker, depository participant, mutual fund or registered intermediary.
2. Escalate through SCORES if the intermediary does not resolve it satisfactorily.
3. After exhausting SCORES, initiate dispute resolution on SMARTODR.

Note: You cannot start SMARTODR if the same dispute is already pending in a court, tribunal, consumer forum or another arbitration, or is non-arbitrable in law. Pick one track.

Go to https://smartodr.in and create an investor login. You need your PAN, email and mobile number. SEBI's own rule: you must have already taken up the complaint with the intermediary before you file here.

Lodge the dispute against the named market participant: your broker, mutual fund, depository participant or other registered intermediary. Upload the documents that prove your loss (contract notes, statements, emails, the SCORES closure).

The matter goes to an empanelled ODR institution, which appoints a sole, neutral conciliator within 5 days. The conciliator must try for an amicable, consensual settlement within 21 calendar days of appointment. Both parties can agree, in writing, to extend this by a maximum of 10 more days.

If conciliation succeeds, it ends in a signed settlement agreement. Where the broker has to pay you, the Market Infrastructure Institution (the exchange or depository, called an MII) monitors the payment until you actually receive it.

If no settlement is reached in the conciliation window, the conciliator records the admissible claim value, and you can pursue online arbitration. It is run by the same ODR institution, so you do not start over.

Arbitration is the binding stage. This is the difference between SMARTODR and SCORES.

• Appointment: A sole arbitrator is appointed within 5 calendar days. If the claim and counter-claim together exceed ₹30,00,000, a three-member tribunal hears it.
• Timeline: The arbitrator must pass the award within 30 calendar days of appointment. Claims of ₹1,00,000 or below get a faster, document-only process. Larger or complex matters can be extended by up to 30 more days.
• Binding and enforceable: The award is made under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The losing side can challenge it only under Section 34 of that Act, and must file its intention to challenge within 7 days. If no court grants a stay within 3 months, the award must be honoured in full.
• Payment: If the award says the broker owes you, it must pay within 15 calendar days of the award. The MII monitors compliance and must help you enforce the award if the broker does not pay.

There is a strong protection if the broker is the one who drags you into arbitration or a challenge: it must first deposit 100% of the admissible claim value with the MII. From that deposit, the MII can release up to ₹5,00,000 to you straight away.

If your dispute is about a trade or settlement, not just service, the stock exchange's grievance machinery sits in front of SMARTODR. Complaints about trade, settlement and deficiency in service that cause a financial loss are referred to the exchange's Investor Grievance Redressal Committee (IGRC), which attempts conciliation first. If the IGRC cannot resolve it, or you are unhappy with its recommendation, the matter moves into the same SMARTODR conciliation and arbitration funnel run through the exchange's empanelled ODR institution.

Two carve-outs to know:

• Defaulting broker: If your loss is a claim against a broker who has defaulted, that is handled separately through the exchange's Core Settlement Guarantee Fund (Core SGF), not the ODR arbitration route.
• SAT appeals: Matters that are appealable before the Securities Appellate Tribunal under Section 15T of the SEBI Act, 1992 sit outside SMARTODR.

• Unauthorised trades: Trades placed in your account that you never ordered. Bring the contract notes and your written objection.
• Withdrawal or payout delays: Funds or redemption proceeds the broker or fund has not released.
• Demat and DP issues: Wrong debits, frozen holdings, shares not credited, or charges you did not authorise.
• Mis-selling: A scheme or product sold to you on a false or unsuitable basis by a registered intermediary.

For each, the path is the same: intermediary, then SCORES, then SMARTODR conciliation, then arbitration.

There is no fee to register a complaint or dispute on the ODR portal. The conciliation fees are borne by the market participant you complained against, and SEBI's rule says the broker cannot shift those fees onto you. You only pay a fee if you yourself choose to initiate arbitration after conciliation fails.

Conciliation must conclude within 21 calendar days of the conciliator's appointment, extendable by up to 10 days. If it moves to arbitration, the award is due within 30 calendar days of the arbitrator's appointment, with a possible 30-day extension for larger or complex claims. So a resolution is designed to land in roughly one to three months, not years.

Yes. The award is passed under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, and is binding and enforceable. The losing party can only challenge it under Section 34 of that Act and must signal its intention within 7 days. If no stay is granted within 3 months, the award must be complied with in full.

You can challenge an award only on the narrow grounds in Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, before the appropriate court. A challenge is not a fresh appeal on the merits. If a broker challenges, it must first deposit 100% of the awarded amount with the MII.

No. SEBI's rule bars SMARTODR if the same dispute is already pending before a court, tribunal, consumer forum or another arbitration. You must choose one track for one dispute.

Registered market participants: stockbrokers, mutual funds, depository participants, registrars and share transfer agents, listed companies and other SEBI-registered intermediaries. The portal is for securities-market disputes, not banking or insurance grievances.

• Gather your evidence: contract notes, account statements, the broker's reply and your SCORES closure.
• Confirm the dispute is not already in a court, forum or arbitration.
• Register at https://smartodr.in with your PAN, email and mobile number.
• File the dispute against the named intermediary and upload your documents.
• Note the conciliator-appointment date: your 21-day conciliation clock runs from there.

• SEBI, Master Circular for Online Resolution of Disputes in the Indian Securities Market, 28 December 2023: https://www.sebi.gov.in/legal/master-circulars/dec-2023/master-circular-for-online-resolution-of-disputes-in-the-indian-securities-market_80236.html
• SEBI Investor portal, SMART ODR: https://investor.sebi.gov.in/smart_orr.html
• SMARTODR portal: https://smartodr.in
• NSE, Investor Grievance Resolution / IGRC: https://www.nseindia.com/complaints/grievance-redressal-committee

• Which regulator to complain to: SEBI, RBI, IRDAI, TRAI, DGCA (covers SCORES filing)
• The RTI Playbook

Reviewed by the RTI Wiki editorial team, June 2026. Public-facing guidance only; verify current SEBI circulars before you file. Editorial leads: Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak and Kashvi Pathak.