Duplicate Share Certificate
A Duplicate Share Certificate is a replacement certificate issued by a company when the original physical share certificate is lost, stolen, or destroyed, subject to prescribed procedures including filing an FIR, an affidavit, and furnishing an indemnity bond.
With SEBI's mandate from April 2019 that all transfers of listed securities must happen in demat form, physical share certificates have become less relevant for ongoing transactions. However, many investors — particularly older ones — still hold physical share certificates, and the procedure for obtaining a duplicate certificate when the original is lost or damaged remains important.
The process for obtaining a duplicate share certificate begins with the shareholder filing a First Information Report (FIR) with the local police station reporting the loss or theft of the share certificate. This serves as evidence of the loss and protects against misuse of the original certificate.
Next, the shareholder must execute an affidavit on appropriate stamp paper, stating the circumstances of the loss and confirming ownership. An indemnity bond is also required, often counter-signed by a surety or backed by a bank guarantee, indemnifying the company against any future claims arising from the original certificate. For high-value holdings, companies may require the surety to be a nationalised bank or a financially sound individual.
The application for a duplicate certificate, along with the FIR copy, affidavit, indemnity bond, and any other documents prescribed by the company, is submitted to the company's Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA). The company then issues a duplicate certificate after due verification, which carries a specific notation that it is a duplicate.
Given the transition to demat, SEBI has strongly encouraged holders of physical shares to dematerialise their holdings. For holders of physical shares in listed companies who cannot transfer due to a missing certificate, the duplicate certificate process is the prerequisite step before dematerialisation. Investors should be aware that RTAs such as KFin Technologies and Link Intime India process these requests and have prescribed timelines for issue of duplicates.