The plain answer
The consolidated account statement, or CAS, is the statement that NSDL and CDSL generate for every PAN: one document listing every demat account under that PAN, each holding and its value, the nominee on each account, and the transactions for the period. Because it comes from the depositories rather than the broker, it is the independent record of your market position.
Reading it monthly is the cheapest audit an investor can run: a few minutes against the app catches wrong credits, stale nominees and debits that should not exist. The two records exist to disagree loudly when something is wrong, and the CAS is the one that wins.
What the CAS covers
The CAS consolidates everything tied to your PAN in the securities system: every demat account across both depositories and every broker, mutual fund units held in statement form with the registrars, and the transactions in each. One PAN, one document. The "consolidated" in the name is literal.
- All demat accounts under your PAN, with each DP named.
- Every holding with its ISIN, quantity and value.
- Debits and credits for the period, account by account.
- The nominee recorded on each account.
- The account type, including the BSDA flag where it applies.
The CAS counts only positions where you are the first or sole holder. Fixed deposits, PPF, NPS, insurance and real estate do not appear; they are outside the depository system. If your PAN is not common across the depositories and the mutual fund registrars, the mutual fund portion may arrive as a separate statement from the registrar, which is a data-matching gap, not a problem with your account.
When it arrives and how it is protected
SEBI has made email the default mode of CAS dispatch, and the statement arrives as a password-protected PDF at your registered email address. In months where you made any transaction, the CAS is sent monthly, typically by the 10th of the following month. In months with no activity, the depositories send the holdings statement half-yearly instead, covering the March and September positions.
The sending depository is the one where your earliest demat account was opened, and it pulls the data from both depositories before emailing. If the emails stop, the usual causes are an unregistered or changed email ID, a spam filter, or a quiet month with no transactions. The fix for the first two is one update at the broker.
The sections
| Section | What it shows | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Account summary | Every demat account under your PAN | No account you did not open |
| Holdings | Each security with ISIN, quantity and value | Matches your purchases |
| Transaction summary | Debits and credits for the period | Only movements you authorised |
| Nominee | The nominee on each account | Still the person you chose |
| Account type | BSDA or regular | BSDA where eligible |
The account summary is the anti-fraud section: it lists every demat account linked to your PAN, so an account opened in your name without your knowledge shows up here. The holdings section is the ownership section: ISIN by ISIN, quantity by quantity, valued at the period’s prices. The transaction summary is the movement section: every debit and credit with dates.
Two lines deserve a monthly glance more than the rest. The nominee line, because a stale nominee is the most expensive small error in finance, and the account type line, because a regular account that qualifies for BSDA is paying AMC it should not be paying. Both are one-line checks.
The monthly audit
The audit is three glances, in order. Each one takes about a minute, and together they cover everything that can quietly go wrong with an account.
- Holdings against the app. Every security you expect, in the quantities you expect, and no security you never bought. A mismatch here is either a reporting delay or a real error, and only the CAS can tell you which.
- The nominee line. The person you chose, still recorded. A marriage, divorce or birth that changed your intentions but not the record is the single most common discovery on this line.
- The transaction summary. No debit you did not authorise, no payout you did not request. This is the same check the compromised-account page uses, run monthly instead of after the fact.
Getting a copy when the email is lost
Losing the email does not lose the statement. Both depositories keep the CAS retrievable on demand, and the routes are free. CDSL account holders can pull the CAS from the CDSL portal with their PAN, demat account number and date of birth, with an OTP confirmation. NSDL account holders use NSDL’s e-CAS service or the SPEED-e and IDeAS platforms to fetch or subscribe to the statement.
DigiLocker also hosts the statement: search for CDSL’s CAS service within DigiLocker, enter the demat ID and PAN, and the statement is issued digitally. Whichever route you use, the document is the same depository record, which is the point: the broker’s app is one view of your account, and the depository holds another, fetchable without the broker’s involvement.
When the CAS disagrees with the app
Trust the CAS first, because it is the record the dispute process starts from. Raise the discrepancy with the broker’s grievance channel, attaching both documents, and the investigation runs against the depository’s record. Holdings errors are rare but real, and the pattern that matters is that the CAS exists precisely so that a broker-side error cannot go unnoticed.
Small timing differences are not discrepancies. A buy that settles after the statement’s cut-off date will appear in the next month’s CAS, and a corporate action processed late can shift a credit by a period. Compare over two statements before you raise anything, then raise it in writing with both PDFs attached.
What people usually get wrong
The CAS is just another broker email
It comes from the depository, the institution that holds the record. It is the independent source, not a duplicate.
The app is enough; the CAS is redundant
The app is the broker’s view. The CAS is the depository’s record. The redundancy is the safety mechanism.
Reading statements is for professionals
Three glances a month cover the entire audit. The CAS is written for exactly this use, and the alternative is discovering an error years late.
The CAS only shows the account at my current broker
It consolidates every demat account under your PAN, across brokers and across both depositories. It is the document that shows your entire position.
Questions people ask
The depository sends it: the depository where your earliest demat account was opened, consolidating data from both NSDL and CDSL. It comes from the institution that holds the record, not from the broker, which makes it the independent mirror: whatever the app shows, the CAS is the record the dispute process starts from.
Yes, which is the "consolidated" part. One statement lists every demat account linked to your PAN, across brokers and across both depositories, with each holding and its value. It is the single document that shows your entire market position in one place.
Three things: the holdings match the app, the nominee is the person you chose, and the debits you did not authorise are absent. Two minutes against the app, one minute on the nominee line, and the audit is done.
Trust the CAS first and raise the discrepancy with the broker’s grievance channel with both documents attached. Holdings errors are rare but real, and the depository’s record is the one the dispute process starts from.
The monthly email goes out only in months where a transaction happened, typically by the 10th of the following month. If you made no trades, redemptions or dividends in the month, the statement arrives half-yearly instead. Also check that your email ID is registered with the DP and that the mail did not land in spam.
The CAS arrives as a password-protected PDF. The password is typically your PAN in capital letters, or a combination of PAN and date of birth, and the covering email states the exact format. The protection exists because the statement is a complete map of your holdings, so do not forward it unredacted.
Sources
- NSDL. "CAS Statement," delivery rules and retrieval routes. Accessed 16 August 2026.
- CDSL. "Consolidated Account Statement — FAQ." Accessed 16 August 2026.
- SEBI. "Legal framework — circulars," email as default mode of CAS dispatch. Accessed 16 August 2026.
- Upstox. "All about the consolidated account statement." Accessed 16 August 2026.