e-StampNotary
Why this one is more demanding than an ordinary lost-document affidavit
A share certificate is a document of title to property that can be transferred. If a company issues a duplicate while the original is circulating, it may end up facing two claimants to the same holding. Registrars and transfer agents therefore run a stricter procedure than a school board issuing a duplicate marksheet, and they will not compromise on it.
In practice that means a package rather than a single paper: the affidavit of loss, an indemnity bond in favour of the company, a police complaint or non-traceable report in most cases, a public notice in a newspaper where the value crosses the company's threshold, and the company's own request form. The RTA's checklist governs. Get it from them first — every RTA has one — and let us draft to that checklist rather than to a general template.
The affidavit must carry the folio number, the certificate numbers, the distinctive numbers from and to, the number of shares and the face value. Without the distinctive numbers the RTA cannot lock the holding on its register, and the application will not proceed however carefully the rest is worded. They appear on any old dividend warrant, holding statement or earlier correspondence — look there before you tell us you do not have them.
Before you start: are the shares even in physical form?
A very large part of what people believe they have lost is not lost at all. Holdings that were dematerialised years ago exist only as an electronic entry with the depository; there is no paper certificate to lose, and the "missing certificate" in the file is a cancelled one. Check the demat statement first. If the holding is in demat form, you need no affidavit — you need your depository participant.
Equally, shares of a company that was struck off, merged or delisted decades ago may not be recoverable through this route at all, and there are other authorities involved when unclaimed shares and dividends have been transferred out of the company's hands. Establish where the holding actually sits before spending on documents.
Joint holders and deceased holders
Where shares are held jointly, the RTA normally wants every surviving joint holder to depose, not one of them on behalf of all. Where a holder has died, this is not a duplicate-certificate problem at all — it is a transmission problem, and the company will ask for the death certificate and the transmission documents, which may include a succession certificate. A succession certificate is granted by the District Court under sections 370 to 390 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, and covers debts and securities. Shares are securities, so for a substantial holding this is the road institutions push you down. A legal heir certificate from the revenue authority is useful, but it is not conclusive and it will not always satisfy a company's registrar.
What gets these rejected
- Certificate and distinctive numbers omitted or given as a range that does not tally with the register.
- The holder's name in the affidavit differing from the name on the register — very common with old folios carrying initials. That needs a one and the same person affidavit as well.
- One joint holder deposing for all.
- The indemnity bond executed by the wrong person, or unstamped.
- A newspaper notice published before the folio details were confirmed with the RTA, so the notice carries wrong numbers.
- Address on the affidavit differing from the address registered in the folio, with no explanation and no proof of the change.
An indemnity bond given to a company is an undertaking to make good any loss it suffers if the original certificate resurfaces in someone else's hands. It is not a formality on the way to a duplicate. Read what you are signing, and be certain that the certificate was not deposited with a lender or handed to a broker before you swear that it is lost.
Stamping and notarisation
The affidavit and the indemnity bond are separate instruments and each is stamped as currently prescribed under the Gujarat Stamp Act, 1958. We confirm the current figures at the counter and issue the e-stamps here as a Government authorised centre. Both are then sworn or executed before the Notary under signature and official seal, as section 8(2) of the Notaries Act, 1952 requires. Where the RTA is outside Gujarat, tell us — the wording sometimes has to accommodate their format.
What to bring
- Folio number, certificate numbers and distinctive numbers
- Any old dividend warrant, holding statement or company correspondence
- Aadhaar and PAN card of every holder who will depose
- Police complaint or non-traceable report, where lodged
- The RTA's or company's own checklist and indemnity format
- Proof of the registered address, or of a change of address since the folio was opened
- Death certificate, where a joint holder has died