New demat and mutual fund accounts now need a nominee, or a signed refusal

SEBI's revised nomination framework took effect on 1 September 2026. Any single-holder demat account or mutual fund folio opened from that date must carry either a nomination or an explicit opt-out declaration signed by the investor. There is no third option of simply leaving the field blank, which is what the overwhelming majority of investors used to do.

You can name up to three nominees and set the percentage each receives. The only details that are compulsory are the nominee's name and their relationship to you, plus a date of birth if the nominee is a minor. The witness requirement on signature-based forms has been dropped, which removes the most common reason these forms were abandoned halfway. Nomination stays optional for jointly held accounts.

For accounts you already hold, nothing is forced on you immediately, but intermediaries have been told to send you an SMS and an email twice a year until you either nominate or opt out. Treat those as worth acting on rather than as spam. The reason this rule exists is that unclaimed shares and units pile up in India precisely because nobody was named, and the process a grieving family then faces is measured in months.