Mumbai, September 21, 2026: National Securities Depository Limited, or NSDL, has appointed Ankit Sharma as Executive Director, Vertical 2, with effect from September 21, 2026. He has joined the Governing Board of NSDL for a five-year term and will oversee regulatory matters, compliance, risk management and investor grievances.
The appointment brings Sharma into a role that has a direct bearing on how NSDL manages regulatory compliance, risk controls and investor complaints. These functions form Vertical 2 under the governance framework prescribed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, for market infrastructure institutions such as stock exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories.
According to the disclosure,According to the disclosure, Sharma’s appointment followed regulatory and internal approvals. SEBI had approved the appointment in May 2026, while NSDL’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee and Governing Board approved it in June 2026. He formally took charge on September 21.
What Ankit Sharma will handle at NSDL
As Executive Director, Vertical 2, Sharma will head the functions covering regulatory compliance, enterprise risk oversight and investor grievance management at NSDL.
SEBI’s December 2025 governance framework requires the Executive Director heading Vertical 2 to be part of the governing board of the market infrastructure institution. The framework also gives the role a defined reporting structure. Heads of departments within Vertical 2, including the Compliance Officer and Chief Risk Officer, are required to report to the Executive Director of Vertical 2.
The Executive Director is also required to report to the governing board every quarter on matters relating to the vertical. SEBI’s framework allows Executive Directors to bring matters directly to the regulator where they consider this necessary. The Regulatory Oversight Committee and Risk Management Committee are also required to meet the Executive Director of Vertical 2 separately every quarter as part of the oversight and performance assessment process.
For investors, this means Sharma’s responsibilities extend beyond internal compliance. His mandate connects with the processes through which a depository identifies regulatory risks, responds to complaints, oversees compliance requirements and reports important issues to its governing board and SEBI.
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Ankit Sharma’s experience across Indian capital markets
Sharma joins NSDL with more than three decades of experience across capital market regulation, compliance, legal functions, investor protection and financial institutions. His career has included assignments with the Reserve Bank of India, SEBI, UBS, Deutsche Bank, ICICI Securities and the National Stock Exchange of India.
He began his career with the Reserve Bank of India and later worked with SEBI, giving him experience on the regulatory side of India’s financial and securities markets. His subsequent roles across banks and securities institutions added experience in compliance, legal processes, investment services and market regulation.
His move to NSDL therefore marks a shift from a senior regulatory position at a stock exchange to a governing board-level role at a depository.
Role at NSE before joining NSDL
Before taking charge at NSDL, Sharma was Chief Regulatory Officer, Listing and Investor Compliance at the National Stock Exchange of India.
NSE appointed him to the position on November 30, 2023. At the time, the exchange said Sharma had more than 28 years of experience covering regulatory, legal, compliance, investment advisory, distribution and broking functions.
At NSE, his work covered regulatory functions linked to listed companies and public issues. His responsibilities included matters connected with initial public offerings, compliance with SEBI’s Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements regulations, listing requirements and investor protection.
His role also covered investor complaints and compliance by listed entities. This included work connected with SEBI’s SCORES investor grievance platform, monitoring regulatory issues involving listed companies and implementing investor awareness measures.
NSE’s FY2024-25 annual report listed Sharma as Chief Regulatory Officer for Listing and Investor Compliance, confirming his position as part of the exchange’s management structure.
This background has direct relevance to his NSDL responsibilities because investor grievances, regulatory compliance and risk oversight are all part of the Vertical 2 mandate.
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Experience with RBI, SEBI and global financial institutions
Sharma’s earlier career also included roles with the Reserve Bank of India and SEBI, followed by assignments at global financial institutions including Deutsche Bank and UBS.
The National Institute of Securities Markets, where Sharma has been listed as an Academic Council member, describes his experience as covering regulatory policy, enforcement, risk and compliance across market intermediaries.
This mix of regulatory and private-sector experience means his career has covered several sides of India’s market structure: the regulator, banking institutions, securities firms, a stock exchange and now a securities depository.
What Are Vertical 1 and Vertical 2 at NSDL?
Vertical 1
It handles the core systems and operations that keep the depository functioning.
For a depository such as NSDL, SEBI defines Vertical 1 functions to include:
- Dematerialisation of securities, including the holding and transfer of securities
- Maintaining records relating to securities held in dematerialised form
- IT infrastructure supporting NSDL's core and critical operations
- Business Continuity Planning, or BCP
- Disaster Recovery operations
- Cybersecurity and cyber resilience
In simple terms, Vertical 1 is responsible for keeping NSDL's core depository infrastructure operational, secure and available. If investors are holding shares in demat form, securities are being transferred, records are being maintained, or NSDL's technology systems are running, these activities fall broadly within the Critical Operations vertical.
Vertical 2
Vertical 2 is essentially NSDL's regulatory and control side.
For depositories, the functions falling under this vertical include:
- Risk management
- Surveillance and investigation
- Registration and oversight of depository participants
- Admission of issuers or securities
- Regulatory compliance
- Inspection
- Enforcement
- Arbitration and grievance redressal
- Investor protection and investor services
So, while Vertical 1 is concerned mainly with running and protecting the depository infrastructure, Vertical 2 focuses on whether NSDL and entities operating within its ecosystem are following regulations, managing risks properly and addressing investor issues.
Why the Vertical 2 appointment matters
The importance of the appointment becomes clearer when viewed against SEBI’s changes to the governance structure of market infrastructure institutions.
SEBI introduced a framework requiring market infrastructure institutions to have Executive Directors heading two separate areas: Vertical 1 for Critical Operations and Vertical 2 for Regulatory, Compliance, Risk Management and Investor Grievances. Both Executive Directors are required to be members of the governing board.
SEBI said the framework was introduced as India’s securities market expanded in terms of market capitalisation, trading activity, technology use, investors and intermediaries. The regulator said stock exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories have a public-interest role and therefore require defined responsibility for operational and regulatory functions.
Under the framework, Vertical 2 is not treated simply as a support or compliance department. It has a governing board-level head, direct reporting responsibilities and separate oversight by regulatory and risk committees.
Sharma’s appointment therefore places him in the management structure through which NSDL will handle these requirements.
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What the appointment means for investors and market participants
For investors, the most relevant part of Sharma’s mandate is the inclusion of investor grievance redressal alongside compliance and risk management.
SEBI’s investor grievance system requires investors to first approach the entity concerned for resolution before escalating eligible complaints through the SCORES platform. Depositories and other market institutions therefore form an important part of the complaint-resolution process.
At NSDL, the Vertical 2 leadership will be involved in the institutional framework responsible for handling these areas, reviewing compliance risks and ensuring that concerns reaching management and the governing board receive appropriate oversight.
For depository participants, issuers and other market intermediaries, Sharma’s appointment also matters because NSDL forms part of the infrastructure through which securities are held electronically and transactions and corporate actions are processed.