National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) is registered as SEBI-based Market Infrastructure Institution (MII) and was incorporated in 2012, being an essential aspect of capital market infrastructure in India. Being one of the major securities depository, the main responsibilities of NSDL are to maintain an electronic record of securities, as well as enable ownership and allotment transfers, facilitate trade settlement and facilitating allotment and transfer of ownership. Its services cover pledging of securities, off-market transfer, corporate actions as well as asset servicing of dematerialized securities. Other digital services that NSDL provides include e-voting, consolidated account statements (CAS) and non-disposal undertakings (NDU).

There are two important subsidiaries of NSDL. NSDL Database Management Ltd. (NDML) provides e-governance services and regulatory services, administers the National Skills Registry and helps to automate SEZs. NSDL Payments Bank Ltd. (NPBL) is a B2B digital bank that provides domestic remittances, AePS, UPI, micro-ATMs, savings account and distribution of third party products.

On March 31, 2025, there were 39.45 million active demat accounts in NSDL, 294 registered depository participants and 33,758 registered issuers. It covers the account holders in more than 99 percent of the Indian PIN codes and 186 nations, which is an indicator of its large presence within the country and around the world.