What is promoter pledging?
A promoter is the founding family or parent company that controls a listed company. Promoters sometimes borrow money and offer their shares to the lender as security. That is a pledge.
The shares stay in the promoter's name while the loan runs. If the loan is not repaid, the lender can "invoke" the pledge and take the shares.
Why do first-time investors miss it?
The headline promoter holding does not change when shares are pledged. So the first number most people look at hides it.
The pledge only shows up in its own column of the shareholding pattern, or in a separate disclosure. Cityfort's "Who owns it" section shows it next to the promoter holding.
What counts as an encumbrance?
SEBI's takeover rules use a wider word than pledge: "encumbrance". It covers a pledge, a lien, a negative lien and a non-disposal undertaking.[S1]
It also covers any other restriction on the free sale of the shares, whatever the arrangement is called.[S1]
A non-disposal undertaking (NDU) is a promise not to sell or transfer the shares. SEBI describes it as a kind of negative lien, usually given in favour of a lender.[S3]
Who has to disclose it, and how fast?
Regulation 31 of the takeover rules makes the promoter disclose shares encumbered by it or by persons acting with it. It must also disclose when an encumbrance is invoked or released.[S1]
The deadline is seven working days from the event. The disclosure goes to every stock exchange where the shares trade and to the company.[S1]
Every type of encumbrance must now be recorded in the depository system, where demat shares are held. The depositories capture the ultimate lender and the reason for the encumbrance.[S3]
When the encumbrance is made through a depository, the promoter does not have to file the separate disclosure.[S1]
Once a year, the promoter also declares that it made no encumbrance beyond those already disclosed. It does so within seven working days of the financial year's end. That declaration goes to the exchanges and the company's audit committee.[S1]
Where does it show up in the shareholding pattern?
Every quarter, the company files a shareholding pattern within 21 days of the quarter's end.[S4] Its Table II lists each promoter and promoter-group entity by name.
Table II has columns for shares pledged or otherwise encumbered. From the quarter ended 30 Jun 2025, the format shows NDUs and other encumbrances separately, plus a total.[S2]
Older filings had one combined "pledged or otherwise encumbered" column. TCS's pattern for 30 Sep 2023 is one example of that older format.[S5] Read more on the TCS ownership section.
If a company declares that no promoter shares are pledged or encumbered, the exchange website shows that declaration instead of empty columns.[S2]
How does Cityfort show the pledge?
Cityfort shows pledged shares as a percentage of the promoter group's own holding, as the filing reports it. It is not a percentage of all the company's shares.
A company with no promoter group has nothing to pledge, so it does not appear in the list below. Widely held banks are an example.
See it in real companies
Promoter shares pledged at companies on Cityfort
12 companies on Cityfort, listed A–Z (not ranked).
- Asian Paints
- 10.37% of promoter sharesQ2 FY27 · source S31
- Bharti Airtel
- 0.0% of promoter sharesQ2 FY27 · source S26
- Hindustan Unilever
- 0.0% of promoter sharesQ2 FY27 · source S54
- Kalyani Steels
- 0.0% of promoter sharesQ3 FY26 · source S28
- Kotak Mahindra Bank
- 0.0% of promoter sharesQ2 FY27 · source S65
- Reliance Industries
- 0.0% of promoter sharesQ2 FY27 · source S44
From each company's filings, as cited on its Cityfort stock page. These figures change when a stock page is updated.
A figure of zero is reported like any other. Whenever a pledge is above zero, the stock page also lists it under governance signals and risks.
What happens when a pledge is invoked?
The lender moves the pledged shares into its own account. The promoter's holding falls by that number of shares.
The invocation must be disclosed within seven working days, like the pledge itself.[S1] The lower holding then shows up in the next quarterly shareholding pattern.
After invocation, the shares belong to the lender, which may keep or sell them. The promoter group no longer controls the votes on those shares.
Where can you check the filings yourself?
On the NSE website, open the shareholding pattern page and search for the company.[S6] BSE has the same filings under each company's corporate information.
Encumbrance disclosures also appear as announcements. Our guide on finding NSE and BSE announcements shows where to look.
For the full ownership table, read how to read a shareholding pattern. To see it for one company, open any page under all stocks and go to "Who owns it".