Form of Transfer

Equity shares use a Dematerialisation Request Form and a physical certificate. Government securities need one more document alongside these: a document RBI itself has prescribed.

That document is the Form of Transfer. It is used specifically to effect the transfer of government securities held in physical form. The DP must make sure it is printed on a single sheet of semi-security paper, and it can be obtained from the relevant depository by email.

Unlike an ordinary equity demat request, a G-Sec demat request needs the Form of Transfer submitted along with the DRF-GS, not the DRF-GS alone.

When a client submits physical G-Sec certificates for dematerialisation, the 3 required documents are the physical certificates themselves, the DRF-GS, and the Form of Transfer. The DP must ensure the Form of Transfer is on a single sheet of semi-security paper. Requests for partial dematerialisation of a certificate are not entertained — the whole certificate must be submitted at once.

The DP scrutinises the Form of Transfer, the DRF-GS and the certificates together, checking that the order of holders' names matches across all three, that certificate details tally, and that the client's signature matches the specimen recorded at account opening. For Trusts and Corporate Bodies, the DP must also ensure the registration number of the signatories is mentioned on the Form of Transfer — any signature discrepancy can lead RBI to reject the transfer outright.

If the certificate numbers of the stock are in consecutive order under a single Loan Code, a single Form of Transfer may cover all of them; different Loan Codes need separate Forms of Transfer and separate DRF-GS submissions. The depository itself fills in and signs the relevant portion of the Form of Transfer before submitting it to RBI for credit to the depository's Constituent SGL account.

Mr Kulkarni submits physical certificates for a 7.26% Government of India dated security, face value Rs 10,00,000, for dematerialisation. Alongside his DRF-GS, he must also submit a Form of Transfer, printed on semi-security paper as RBI prescribes.

His DP checks that the order of holders' names on the Form of Transfer, the DRF-GS and the physical certificates all match, verifies his signature against the specimen on record, and — because the certificate numbers on his holding are consecutive under a single Loan Code — accepts a single Form of Transfer covering the entire Rs 10,00,000 face value, rather than requiring one per certificate.

Had his signature on the Form of Transfer differed from what RBI has on record, or had the registration number of an authorised signatory (in the case of a corporate holding) been missing, RBI could reject the transfer outright at its end, regardless of how correctly the DP had processed the DRF-GS.

Chapter 11, section 11.4.1 ("Dematerialisation of Physical Certificates"), introduces the Form of Transfer in a footnote as "RBI prescribed form to effect transfer of securities held in physical form", immediately setting the semi-security-paper requirement and the no-partial-demat rule.

Expect a question on what document RBI prescribes alongside the DRF-GS for a physical G-Sec demat request (the Form of Transfer), and on whether partial dematerialisation of a single certificate is allowed (it is not).

• The Form of Transfer is required in addition to the DRF-GS, not instead of it — a G-Sec demat request needs both documents together.
• Partial dematerialisation of a single certificate is never allowed for government securities — this is stated explicitly, twice, in the workbook.
• A single Form of Transfer can cover multiple certificates only if their numbers are consecutive under one Loan Code — different Loan Codes always need separate forms.
• Any signature mismatch can cause RBI itself to reject the transfer, even after the DP has already accepted and forwarded the documents — the DP's acceptance is not the final check.