NSDL or National Securities Depository Limited is the first and largest depository in India. It was established in 1996 for the purpose of handling securities in dematerialized form. Prior to the establishment of the depository, securities in Indian capital market were held in physical form. This led to the problems of bad delivery, delayed transfer of title documents, etc. In August 1996, the Indian lawmakers enacted the Depositories Act which led to the formation of NSDL.
It was promoted by IDBI Bank Limited (erstwhile Industrial Development Bank of India), NSE Strategic Investment Corporation Limited (erstwhile National Stock Exchange of India) and Administrator of the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India – DRF (erstwhile Unit Trust of India).
e-Governance is the use of information technology to facilitate better governance and administration. In January 2013, NSDL demerged itself and two companies were formed, NSDL e- Governance Infrastructure Limited (NSDL e-Gov) and National Securities Depository Limited. The objective of NSDL e-Gov is to work with various government agencies for designing, managing and implementing e-governance projects.