CDSL Shares Fall After Sebi Slaps Rs 1 Crore Fine

July 21, 2026July 21, 2026

CDSL shares fell to a day’s low of Rs 1,361.50 on the NSE on Tuesday, after Sebi fined the depository Rs 1 crore over cybersecurity lapses.

Sebi’s order said Central Depository Services had failed to treat one of its internet-facing servers as a critical system.

Because of that, the server was left out of routine security checks and was missing basic safeguards that should have been in place.

The regulator had actually flagged these gaps to CDSL back in August 2022, months before the attack hit. CDSL, however, did not fix them and continued relying on an older security review instead.

Sebi found that attackers had already broken into CDSL’s systems in November 2021, nearly a year before the malware itself was detected in November 2022.

When the attack did strike, it hit hard. It infected 135 of the company’s 547 servers and 177 of its 506 desktops and laptops, disrupting settlement and pay-in and pay-out processes on the day it was discovered.

CDSL, which handles close to 83 million demat accounts, roughly 70% of all such accounts in India, said the penalty will not affect its financials or day to day operations in any material way, apart from the cost of the fine itself.

The company has 45 days to pay up. Sebi has separately closed proceedings against CDSL’s former security chief and former technology chief without any penalty, saying the lapses could not be pinned on them individually.

As of 14:02 pm on 21 July, CDSL shares were trading at Rs 1,365.40 on the NSE, down 1.43% from the previous close of Rs 1,385.20.

The stock is well off its 52-week high of Rs 1,753.90 touched last July, though still comfortably above its 52-week low of Rs 1,116.30 hit in March.

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