Leading depositories NSDL and CDSL along with capital market regulator Sebi have come together to form a Unified Investor App (MyEasi by CDSL and SPEED-e by NSDL), offering a consolidated view of financial statements, shareholding and investments under a secure platform. SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, at launch of the platform in Mumbai on February 20 said such collaborative efforts by market players put investors upfront, and democratize investing.

"It's always gratifying for a regulator to see market participants collaborate because what that means really is that they are putting the investor centre stage of what they are doing," said Madhabi Puri. "It's not about their P&L, it's not about their market share, it's about the investor," she added.

The platform will consolidate fragmented financial data from NSDL and CDSL into a single, accessible space, and promises to revolutionize how investors manage their portfolios.

"I think the power of that will have to be seen to be believed. It's not just about saying that I had 20 pieces of paper and that now I can see those 20 pieces of paper in one place. That’s not the point," she said. "The whole point is when you have your entire portfolio—long-term shares, trading positions, mutual fund units, AIF units—put together across multiple relationships, the power that it gives you to analyze this data and make the right decisions is immense," Madhabi Puri said.

Sebi chairperson added that access to such tools was previously a privilege of large institutional investors, with dedicated relationship managers.

"What we have today is that for every single investor in the country, now that first step has been taken. He deserves the same service, the same access to information, and the same ability to optimize his portfolio that the large investors have. So, for me, this is truly democratisation," she added.

Madhabi Puri hoped that both the depositories will also work towards making the analysis of data easier for investors. "There can be no discussion about it. We need to present the analysis to the investor in the most appropriate way and in the most useful way. But to have that data and not analyze it for them and make it easier for them to consume would just be a tremendous waste of an opportunity," she added.

"I am sure that the depositories will do that very shortly, and assist the investor by adding more and more value-added services. " said Madhabi Puri.

Tackling Fraud

A key advantage of the platform, Madhabi Puri said, will be direct data sourcing from exchanges, depositories, and clearing corporations, thus eliminating fraudulent intermediaries.

"Think about the power of this: the source of truth is the depositories and the exchanges and the clearing corporations. This data is coming direct from the source of truth to the hands of the investor with no opportunity for any fraudulent intervention by any person in the middle," she added.

Another major issue the platform addresses is investors’ failure to act in their own financial interests.

"It was always said that investors tend to be lazy. They tend to irrationally not take decisions which are in their own interest," Buch said, addoing "…when an investor has access to data and analysis, his ability to take a decision - to buy, sell, hold, increase or decrease positions also exponentially increases."

The third advantage of the unified investor application will be making inheritance and asset transmission seamless.

"…when did the real revolution in terms of retail participation in the markets happen? It happened at a time when that generation is now passing on and their heirs are inheriting those securities," she said. Madhabi Puri added that the app has the additional benefit of consolidating everything, making transmission and inheritance extremely easy and traceable.

Buch also added that she envisions a MF Central type of future for the app, where the entire investor journey or customer journey is facilitated in one place ‘in a non-partisan, non-competing, integrated way, that’s the path we must take.’

Madhabi Puri Buch said this is a step toward equalizing investment opportunities for all Indians.

"For me, it is very satisfying that the first few steps have been taken towards completely democratizing the opportunity for all investors. The ability to optimize one’s portfolio as a whole is now available to every single Indian, and it's something that we are very, very proud of," she said.