Dematerialization requirement: public companies must hold and convert public securities into dematerialized form under the Depositories Act. Public companies and their subsidiaries that have raised funds from the public through shares, debentures, deposits, stock, bonds or other financial instruments must issue and maintain those instruments in dematerialized form in accordance with the Depositories Act, 1996 and related regulations, and must convert existing physical certificates into dematerialized form by the prescribed conversion deadline.