Who is who

Buying a share involves more institutions than most people realise, and almost nobody can name them until something goes wrong. Here they are, in the order you meet them.

The broker

The one you have an account with and an app from.

A broker takes your order and places it on the exchange. Brokers are members of the exchange; you are not, which is why you cannot place an order yourself.

They also hold your trading account — the money side — and usually act as your depository participant, which is the next entry and a different role wearing the same badge.

The depository, and the depository participant

This is the pair people confuse, so it is worth quoting the regulator. SEBI's investor material, read 29 September 2026, puts it plainly:

A central institution that holds securities in electronic format and enables smooth transactions

— that is the depository, and it "acts as a custodian of securities, ensuring safekeeping and electronic transfers". India has two: NSDL and CDSL.

A depository participant is, in SEBI's words, "a financial intermediary (banks, brokers, financial institutions) that offers depository services to investors on behalf of a depository".

And the line that matters most:

Investors cannot open an account directly with NSDL or CDSL; they must go through a registered DP.

So your shares are held by a depository. Your relationship is with a DP, which is usually your broker. Your broker does not own or hold your shares — it administers an account at a depository that does. That distinction is the reason a broker failing does not, by itself, mean your shares are gone.

The exchange

Chapter 2. Matches orders, publishes prices, holds nothing of yours.

The clearing corporation

The institution most investors have never heard of, doing the job that makes the whole thing work.

When your buy order matches someone's sell order, the clearing corporation steps between the two of you and becomes the counterparty to each side. You are no longer relying on that stranger to deliver; you are relying on the clearing corporation, which collects margins and maintains funds precisely to make good on that guarantee.

This is why you do not have to investigate who sold you the shares. Chapter 6 follows the money and the shares through settlement.

The registrar and transfer agent

The RTA maintains the company's register of who owns what, and handles corporate actions — dividends, bonuses, splits — on the company's behalf. When a dividend reaches your bank account, an RTA arranged it.

SEBI

The Securities and Exchange Board of India regulates all of the above: the exchanges, the depositories, the DPs, the brokers, the RTAs, and the companies that list. It writes the rules, inspects, and acts when they are broken.

It does not guarantee your investments, approve of any company, or protect you from losing money on a legitimate trade. Its job is that the market is fair and orderly, not that you profit.

Which one do I call?

The useful version of this chapter:

Problem	Who
Order not placed, or placed wrongly	Your broker
Shares missing from the holding statement	Your DP, then the depository
Dividend not received	The company's RTA
Trade not settled	Your broker, who deals with the clearing corporation
Broker not responding, or behaving badly	The exchange, then SEBI

Why this separation exists

It would be simpler to have one institution do everything. It would also mean one institution holding your shares, your money, the order book and the record of ownership — and every incentive to fudge one when another went wrong.

Splitting the roles means the entity holding your shares is not the entity you trade through, and the entity guaranteeing settlement is neither. The structure is designed so that a failure at one point does not automatically become your loss.

The point

Your broker takes orders. A depository holds your shares. A clearing corporation guarantees the trade. An RTA keeps the company's register. SEBI regulates all of them, and none of them promises you a return.