Every recognised depository must incorporate in its bye-laws a procedure governing the creation of a pledge by beneficial owners over securities owned by them. The operational mechanism for pledging such securities must therefore be addressed through the depository's prescribed internal procedures.

Recognised depositories must extend necessary co-operation to beneficial owners, issuers and their agents, securities custodians, other depositories, and clearing corporations. This obligation is directed at ensuring effective, prompt, and accurate clearance and settlement of securities transactions and the conduct of business.

Recognised depositories must preserve records of dematerialisation and rematerialisation, securities transfers, beneficial owners and their daily holdings, participant details, pledge or hypothecation actions, dematerialisation eligibility, and relevant instructions. The maintenance location must be intimated to the Authority. Prescribed records and documents must be retained in electronic retrieval form for at least eight years.

Recognised depositories must maintain a Business Continuity Plan and a Disaster Recovery Site to safeguard data and transaction integrity. These operational resilience arrangements must be established and maintained in the manner specified by the Authority from time to time.

Recognised depositories must maintain a sound risk management system and infrastructure capable of comprehensively managing risks. Risk-management arrangements must support operational resilience and address risks arising from recognised market-infrastructure functions.

A recognised depository must permit a participant to withdraw or transfer its account where the request complies with conditions contained in the depository's bye-laws. The participant's entitlement is subject to the procedural and substantive requirements of that bye-law framework.

Protection of beneficial owners requires every recognised depository to adopt adequate protective measures against risks arising from its activities as a recognised depository. Such measures must include insurance to safeguard beneficial owners' interests against activity-related risks.

Investor protection mechanism is mandatory for every recognised depository and must adequately safeguard persons buying and selling securities held in the depository.

Recognised depositories must maintain continuous electronic communication with participants, issuers or issuers' agents, clearing houses, clearing corporations of stock exchanges, and other depositories. The connectivity requirement supports uninterrupted coordination across the depository and market-infrastructure ecosystem.

A recognised depository must arrange an annual inspection of its controls, systems, procedures and safeguards. It must forward a copy of the resulting inspection report to the Authority under Regulation 50 of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Market Infrastructure Institutions) Regulations, 2021.

Recognised depositories must maintain the integrity of automatic data-processing systems and protect records against loss, destruction or tampering. Sufficient backup records must be available at a different location at all times to ensure preservation and recoverability where records are lost or destroyed.

Recognised depositories must maintain adequate mechanisms for reviewing, monitoring and evaluating their controls, systems, procedures and safeguards. The general operational requirement covers each internal control element and requires mechanisms capable of performing review, monitoring and evaluation functions.

Recognised depositories must maintain systems and procedures that enable coordination with issuers or their agents and participants for daily reconciliation of securities ownership records. The requirement is directed at ensuring accurate and current ownership records within the depository framework.

Dematerialisation of securities requires an issuer to enter into an agreement with a recognised depository when the issuer or an investor exercises the option to hold securities in dematerialised form. No agreement is required where the depository is itself the issuer or where government securities are issued by the Central Government of India or a State Government. Where a Registrar to the Issue or Share Transfer Agent is appointed, the depository, issuer and registrar or agent must execute a tripartite agreement for securities declared eligible for dematerialised holding.

Regulation 45 requires a recognised depository to enter into an agreement with one or more participants acting as its agents. The arrangement establishes the required agency relationship between the depository and its participant or participants.

Regulation 44 permits all securities defined under the SCRA and other permitted financial products to be held in dematerialised form with a recognised depository. Eligibility was broadened with effect from 1 November 2024 by replacing the earlier reference to eligible instruments under the IFSCA Act with other permitted financial products.

Priority of clearing corporation recovery applies to dues arising from clearing members' clearing and settlement functions. A recognised clearing corporation may recover these dues from the clearing members' collateral, deposits and assets, with priority over every other liability of or claim against the clearing members.

Recognised clearing corporations handling physically settled commodity derivatives must ensure a financial guarantee for trade settlement, including good delivery. Good delivery requires goods to be capable of transferring title and to conform to the quality and quantity specifications of the relevant exchange contract.

Payment and settlement through recognised stock exchanges and recognised clearing corporations must follow approved netting or gross procedures under their bye-laws. Such settlements are final, irrevocable and binding on the parties. Once settlement finality arises, the exchange or clearing corporation has priority to appropriate collateral, deposits or margins contributed by a broker dealer, clearing member or client towards settlement or other obligations, ahead of competing liabilities or claims. Finality arises when the payable obligations are determined, whether or not actual payment or delivery has occurred.

Bye-laws governing contracts and clearing and settlement must be made by recognised stock exchanges and recognised clearing corporations only with the Authority's prior approval. Amendments to those bye-laws, and to constitutional documents concerning matters under the SCRA or the Market Infrastructure Institutions Regulations, also require prior approval.