The Kerala flood revealed old share certificates! This is how I converted them to Demat form

Last Updated on January 1, 2024 at 9:50 am

This time on reader story, we have an account of old share certificates revealed by the Kerala flood and how FB group Asan Ideas for Wealth admin Ashal Jauhari, helped a reader (who prefers anonymity) convert them into Demat form.

More such stories from the archives:

• How I transferred my home loan from LICHFL to SBI and saved 12 Lakhs!
• How Ashal & Banking Ombudsman helped get my money back from a failed credit card payment
• We lost sleep after using a retirement calculator! This is how we recovered

In Aug 2018 after Kerala floods, my mother called me saying that she found some decades old docs kept in Almirah with “some company name” printed on it. She was about to throw it and thought to check with me before doing that. As I was supposed to go to my home town soon, I told her to keep it safe and let me check it

When I checked the docs, they turned out to be “Share certificates/stocks” of a listed company. My mother had no clue about it. I did a quick google search and found that the company is actively traded in BSE/NSE and was paying some dividends too in past years. I was again surprised and asked my mother. As usual, she had no clue but did tell me that every year some “cheques/warrants” used to come home and it was deposited in a bank account.

I realized that it was due to bank account details not updated in records and company was sending cheques to postal address (I have no clue how postal address was correctly updated in company records, probably my father (who is no more) must have done that)

Again, back to the original thing, I noticed that shares were issued in my mother’s maiden name whereas all her ID/docs bear her current name. I did not know what to do and as a starting point, wrote to the “investor relations” contact of the company to seek help. I got reply in few days saying to contact registered share transfer agent -Karvy who handles such company queries

I checked their website and contacted customer care. The customer care was cordial but wasn’t sure about the correct way and advised me to mail to – einward (dot) ris (at) karvy (dot) com with full details. I did as told asking for guidance but got no reply for 2 weeks in spite of sending reminders. Frustrated, I again called customer care and they told me to wait and finally, I got a reply after a month. I was told that I need to get new physical share certificates and get it demat/online but only after name change!

The reply was very short and it was irritating as no details were mentioned on supporting docs required etc. I send reminders frequently but in vain!

Finally, I vented my anger on their Facebook page of Karvy Computershare and posted a comment/message. Within 2 days, I got a reply that I need to enclose the following docs

1) Notary affidavit indicating name change on stamp paper of Rs 10/20
2) Sign change affidavit attested by the bank (they charge for issuing it)
3) PAN CARD/ID proof
4) application letter
5) Original share certificate

I took me one month to get all the docs arranged. After that, it was sent to Karvy (Hyderabad) office….the waiting ordeal started again. They have fixed process of accepting/checking docs and after 2 months I was told that my docs will now be sent to company HO in Mumbai for attestation and then it will be sent back to Karvy and finally to my mother

The whole process took 3 months (with constant follow -up/phone calls/emails) and in January 2019 we got new share certificates

Meanwhile, I decided to transfer shares to my demat account. physical share transfer means more charges!! so I decided to open DEMAT account in my mother name and get physical shares converted to DEMAT form. This time, the main job was done by DP agent (where DEMAT account was opened) which send shares to Karvy. The whole process took around one month!

Finally, in around April 15th, shares transferred to my account and I closed my mother demat account

NOTE: the Whole process took around 6 months and would like to thank Ashal Jauhari for guidance/moral support !!

Do you have such a story to share and think others will benefit from your experience? Then write to me!