NSDL was registered by the SEBI on June 7, 1996 as India’s first depository to facilitate trading and settlement of securities in the dematerialized form. NSDL has been set up to cater to the demanding needs of the Indian capital markets. NSDL commenced operations on November 08, 1996. NSDL has been promoted by a number of companies, the prominent of them being IDBI, UTI, NSE, SBI, HDFC Bank Ltd., etc. The initial paid up capital of NSDL was Rs. 105 crore which was reduced to Rs. 80 crore. During 2000-2001 through buy-back programme by buying back 2.5 crore shares @ 12 Rs./share. It was done to bring the size of its capital in better alignment with its financial operations and to provide same return to shareholders by gainfully deploying the excess cash available with NSDL. NSDL carries out its activities through service providers such as depository participants (DPs), issuing companies and their registrars and share transfer agents and clearing corporations/ clearing houses of stock exchanges. These entities are NSDL's business partners and are integrated in to the NSDL depository system to provide various services to investors and clearing members. The investor can get depository services through NSDL's depository participants. An investor needs to open a depository account with a depository participant to avail of depository facilities. Depository system essentially aims at eliminating the voluminous and cumbersome paper work involved in the scrip-based system and offers scope for ‘paperless’ trading through state-of-the-art technology. A depository can be compared to a bank. A depository holds securities of investors in the form of electronic accounts, in the same way as bank holds money in a saving account. Besides, holding securities, a depository also provides services related to transactions in securities.
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