Technical snag at NSDL delays settlement of trades since Tuesday

A technical glitch at the National Securities Depository (NSDL) has caused delays in trade settlements for the past three days. Investors have reported that shares purchased since Tuesday have not yet appeared in their demat accounts, preventing them from selling those holdings. The issue stems from a disruption affecting NSDL’s ability to process transfers with its rival, the Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDSL). This impacts the credit of shares to individual investor accounts, as securities are stuck in broker pool accounts.

Brokers across firms are experiencing the problem, which is related to inter-depository transfers originating from NSDL. While CDSL has not reported similar delays, NSDL has activated its Disaster Recovery site to resolve the issue. The root cause of the snag remains unknown, and NSDL has not yet responded to inquiries.

India’s equity settlement cycle is T+1, meaning trades are settled the day after execution. The NSDL disruption has delayed the final step of crediting shares to investors’ demat accounts, impacting the 'Beginning Of Day' (BOD) snapshot and preventing investors from trading. Clearing corporations have partially mitigated the issue by transferring shares from CDSL to brokers’ CDSL pool accounts, but direct credit to customer demat accounts remains affected.

(Source：The Economic Times)