The Consolidated Account Statement – or CAS – is a single, aggregated statement of all your investments in the securities market. All your investments in equity shares, preference shares, mutual funds, bonds, debentures, securitised instruments, commercial paper and certificates of deposit are included in this Consolidated Account Statement.

Both the Indian depositories, i.e. NSDL and CDSL, produce such a statement. It includes almost all financial investments held in your name, as long as you are the single owner or the primary/first holder.

The CAS is usually sent by the middle of the month following the reporting period. If there are no transactions in any of the accounts, a CAS is sent twice a year i.e. for the reporting periods ending March 31st and September 30th. If there is a transaction during any month, then a CAS is sent for that month. So you will receive a minimum of two and a maximum of 12 CAS per year.

The unique identifier used to identify your accounts is your permanent account number (PAN).

You will receive reports from either NSDL or CDSL, but not both. The depository which has the dematerialised account that was opened first, for your PAN, will send the CAS to you.

This statement is a great starting point or review tool to assess and analyse your Indian financial investments.

At least once in six months, you should read it carefully and use it to make improvements in your overall financial portfolio.