A shareholder's registered address in the company's records and with the Registrar and Transfer Agent is the basis for dispatch of dividend warrants, annual reports, notices, and all other shareholder communications. An outdated or incorrect address results in non-receipt of all such correspondence. FISC coordinates the address update across all companies and RTAs in a single, organised process.
Under the Companies Act, 2013 and the Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements Regulations, companies are obligated to communicate with shareholders at their registered address. Dividend warrants issued by companies that have not yet adopted electronic payment modes are dispatched by post to the registered address. Annual reports, meeting notices, and notices of rights issues, bonus issues, and other corporate actions are similarly dispatched. A shareholder with an incorrect or outdated registered address will not receive any of this correspondence, increasing the risk of dividends becoming unclaimed and of shares eventually being transferred to the IEPF.
The most common causes are relocation of residence, change in postal service delivery area designation, and the shareholder's failure to notify the RTA of a change of address at the time of relocation. In cases where shares have been held for many years, the original address may be decades old. The address may also contain errors introduced at the time of original registration that have persisted in the records.
An address update in the RTA's records requires submission of a written request supported by valid proof of the new address. The request must be submitted to each RTA separately, as different companies use different RTAs. The principal RTAs operating in India include Link Intime India Pvt. Ltd., KFin Technologies Ltd. (formerly Karvy), Beetal Financial and Computer Services, and Bigshare Services. Each RTA has its own prescribed format and documentary requirements.
FISC prepares a consolidated list of all companies in which the shareholder holds shares and identifies the RTA servicing each company. We prepare the address update request in the prescribed format for each RTA, compile the supporting documents, and submit the requests to all relevant RTAs in a coordinated manner. This eliminates the need for the shareholder to correspond separately with each RTA. FISC follows up with each RTA until written confirmation of the updated address is received in respect of all companies.