If your RTA or company is not responding — share transfer stuck, dividend unpaid, KYC rejected — SEBI SCORES is the official escalation path. This guide explains exactly how to file, what to write, and what to expect.
By RK Gupta, Company Secretary · Updated June 2026 · 10 min read
SEBI SCORES stands for Securities and Exchange Board of India Complaints Redress System. It is the official online grievance portal run by SEBI at scores.sebi.gov.in. SEBI launched it to give retail investors a direct channel to complain against SEBI-registered entities — listed companies, registrar and transfer agents (RTAs), stock exchanges, stock brokers, depository participants, and mutual funds — without having to approach a court or consumer forum.
The core mechanism is straightforward: you file a complaint on the portal, SEBI forwards it to the entity named in your complaint, and that entity is mandated to respond within 21 working days. SEBI monitors the response and, if it is unsatisfactory, can take regulatory action against the entity. Over the years SEBI SCORES has processed millions of investor complaints and has a documented track record of resolving share-related grievances.
One thing to be clear about before you file: SEBI SCORES is not a court. It will not award you damages or compensation. It will not rule on who is legally right in a disputed inheritance. What it does is compel an entity to acknowledge your complaint, address it, and explain what they have done or why they cannot do what you are asking. For most garden-variety share service complaints — transmission delayed, dividend not credited, KYC rejection without reason — that is usually enough to get the matter moving.
SEBI SCORES is designed for specific situations where a SEBI-registered entity has either not responded or has not resolved your complaint satisfactorily. Typical cases include:
The portal covers complaints against entities that are registered with or regulated by SEBI:
There are things SEBI SCORES cannot handle. Do not file here for complaints about bank fixed deposits, insurance policies, post office savings schemes, or unlisted companies. Sahara-related complaints go to the CRCS portal (crcs.gov.in), not SCORES. Complaints against the IEPF Authority itself have a separate grievance mechanism through the MCA portal. If your complaint is about investment performance — the share price fell, the mutual fund returned less than expected — SEBI SCORES is not the right channel. SEBI does not regulate investment returns.
SEBI SCORES is a second-level escalation. You are expected to first complain directly to the company or RTA and wait for their response — or wait at least 30 days if they do not respond — before coming to SCORES. If you skip this step, the complaint may be returned to you with instructions to contact the entity first.
This is not just a procedural formality. Most complaints at the company or RTA level do get resolved if you write formally and clearly. SEBI SCORES works best as a backup when that first attempt has failed.
Before filing, gather your evidence of the first complaint:
If you have not used SEBI SCORES before, you need to register first. The process takes about five minutes:
Keep your SCORES login credentials safe — you will need them to track your complaint and respond to the entity's queries.
Once you are logged in to SEBI SCORES, filing the complaint itself is methodical. Here is how to go through it:
The complaint description field is where many investors go wrong. They write emotional paragraphs about how much money they have lost or how unfairly they have been treated. That does not help SEBI forward an actionable complaint. What you need instead is a clean, factual, chronological account:
"I am a registered shareholder of [Company Name], folio number [XXXXX], holding [N] equity shares. On [date], I submitted a Transmission Request Form along with [list documents] to [RTA name] at [address/email]. I received acknowledgement on [date] / I did not receive any acknowledgement. As of [today's date], more than 30 working days have passed and the RTA has not processed the request or communicated any rejection. On [date] I also sent a follow-up email / complaint letter (copy attached). The matter remains unresolved."
Key things to include in the description:
Attach every supporting document. SEBI will only have what you give them. Do not expect the entity to volunteer evidence against itself.
Once you submit your complaint, SEBI's SCORES system routes it electronically to the entity named. The entity receives a formal notification that a SCORES complaint has been lodged against them by a specific investor. This alone is often enough to prompt action — most RTAs and companies have dedicated compliance teams for SCORES, and they know that non-response leads to regulatory consequences.
The entity has 21 working days to respond and mark the complaint as resolved on the SCORES portal. You can track the status using your CRN at scores.sebi.gov.in. Status codes you will see:
If you receive the entity's response and are not satisfied — for example, the RTA says they resolved it but you have still not received the shares in your name — click the option to escalate to SEBI for review. SEBI will then examine the matter and communicate with the entity further.
SEBI has set up a more structured dispute resolution mechanism at smartodr.in — the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform. Smart ODR is separate from SCORES and is designed for cases where the investor and the intermediary cannot reach agreement through the SCORES grievance process.
Smart ODR offers conciliation (a neutral mediator helps both parties reach a settlement) and arbitration (a panel decides the dispute). It is available for disputes between investors and all SEBI-registered intermediaries. If your SCORES complaint did not deliver a satisfactory resolution and the matter involves a monetary claim, Smart ODR is the logical next step before approaching a civil court.
Most SEBI SCORES complaints are acknowledged by the entity within 5 to 7 working days and resolved or responded to within 21 working days. In practice, the very act of a SEBI complaint appearing in the RTA's SCORES queue tends to accelerate action. RTAs know that SEBI tracks their complaint resolution metrics and that persistent non-compliance results in regulatory notices.
That said, filing SCORES will not fix a documentation problem. If your transmission has been rejected because the affidavit is on incorrect stamp paper, the RTA will tell SEBI exactly that — and SEBI will ask you to resubmit with corrected documents. SCORES is an escalation tool, not a substitute for correct documentation.
A realistic timeline: if you file SCORES today with a complete complaint on a clear-cut delay case, you can expect the entity to act within 3 to 6 weeks. More complex cases or those requiring document correction will take longer.
| Channel | Best For | Who It Covers | Typical Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEBI SCORES | Delayed processing by listed company or RTA | Listed companies, RTAs, brokers, DPs, mutual funds | 21 working days for entity response |
| SEBI Smart ODR | Unresolved disputes after SCORES | All SEBI-registered intermediaries | 30–90 days depending on conciliation/arbitration |
| RBI Banking Ombudsman | Bank account problems (not share issues) | Scheduled banks | 30–60 days |
| IEPF Authority Grievance | Stuck IEPF claims specifically | IEPF Authority / MCA | Variable |
| CRCS Portal | Sahara refund specifically | Sahara entities only | Variable |
| Consumer Forum (NCDRC) | Consumer disputes — not typically used for share service issues | Broad, but rarely used for securities | Months to years |
It is worth being clear about the limits of SCORES so you are not disappointed:
One pattern I see repeatedly in my practice: an investor's documents have been rejected by the RTA for a legitimate reason — name mismatch, missing form, incorrect stamp paper on the affidavit — but the investor files SEBI SCORES without fixing the underlying problem. The RTA then responds to SCORES explaining the rejection reason, and the complaint is marked resolved from the entity's side, even though nothing has actually been done for the investor.
The more effective sequence is: understand the rejection reason, get the documentation corrected, resubmit, and then escalate to SEBI SCORES only if the corrected set is also not being processed. This way, when SEBI asks the RTA why the matter is pending, the RTA cannot point to any legitimate document deficiency.
If you are unsure whether your documents are in order — whether the affidavit needs to be on Rs. 100 or Rs. 200 stamp paper, whether you need a magistrate's attestation, whether the name mismatch is minor enough to be cleared by an affidavit — a Company Secretary can review your situation before you send anything. Getting it right the first time saves weeks.
Common questions about filing a SEBI SCORES complaint for share issues
SEBI SCORES (Securities and Exchange Board of India Complaints Redress System) is an administrative grievance portal at scores.sebi.gov.in where investors can file complaints against SEBI-registered entities — listed companies, RTAs, brokers, depositories, and mutual funds. It is not a court and does not award damages or compensation. Its purpose is to compel the entity to acknowledge your complaint and respond within 21 working days. A court complaint is a separate legal process requiring a lawyer. For most share service delays — transmission, KYC, dividend — SCORES is faster and more practical than approaching a court.
No. SEBI SCORES requires you to first raise the complaint directly with the company or RTA and wait at least 30 days for a response (or receive an unsatisfactory reply) before filing on SCORES. If you skip this step, your complaint may be returned with instructions to contact the entity first. Keep evidence of your first complaint — an email thread, registered post acknowledgement, or courier receipt — because you will need to reference it when filing on SCORES.
The SEBI-registered entity has 21 working days to respond after SEBI forwards the complaint. In practice, many complaints see action within this window because RTAs and companies take SEBI-level escalation seriously. If you are unsatisfied with the response, you can ask SEBI to review it. Cases that involve document correction may take longer, because the underlying documentation has to be corrected first regardless of the SCORES timeline.
Yes, but only after you have reviewed the rejection reason. If the rejection was because of a genuine document deficiency — missing affidavit, name mismatch, unsigned form — filing SCORES without fixing the documents will not resolve the matter. The RTA will cite the rejection reason and SEBI will ask you to resubmit with correct documents. Fix the documentation first, resubmit, and escalate to SCORES only if the RTA fails to process a complete and valid set. If you are unsure whether the rejection reason is legitimate, consult a Company Secretary before escalating.
If you are not satisfied with the entity's SCORES response, you can request SEBI to review it. If SEBI's review is also not satisfactory, move to SEBI's Online Dispute Resolution platform at smartodr.in, which offers structured conciliation and arbitration. For disputes involving succession, contested transmission, or property rights, a civil court may ultimately be necessary — SCORES and ODR cannot adjudicate who legally owns disputed shares.
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