Encumbrance events are real-time filings by promoters whenever they pledge, unpledge, or have their shares invoked (seized) by a lender. Unlike the quarterly Pledge snapshot which shows "where things stand," encumbrance events show "what just happened" - every individual transaction as it occurs. They are required under SEBI's Takeover Regulations (SAST Regulations 31/32); each event records who pledged how many shares, to which lender, and whether it was a creation (new pledge), release (unpledge), or invocation (lender selling on default). VIGIL tracks all such events for NSE-listed companies.
Open the live VIGIL Encumbrance view for the per-event feed.
Three types of events
- Creation - the promoter has pledged (or otherwise encumbered) shares as collateral, increasing total encumbrance. The most common event: it happens whenever a promoter takes a new loan against shares, extends a facility, or shifts collateral to a different lender.
- Release - the promoter has unpledged shares, typically after repaying or refinancing a loan, or when the collateral requirement decreased. Releases reduce encumbrance; a steady stream of releases is generally positive - the promoter is deleveraging.
- Invocation - the lender has exercised its right to sell the pledged shares, usually because the promoter defaulted or failed a margin call. The most serious event type - it indicates actual financial distress. Relatively rare, but with significant implications for the stock price and governance.
Encumbrance types
- Pledge - the most common type (~93% of events): shares given to a bank, NBFC, or broker as loan collateral.
- Non-Disposal Undertaking (NDU) - a commitment not to sell or transfer shares without the lender's approval; the shares stay in the promoter's demat account but are effectively locked. Used in loan covenants and strategic transactions.
- Others - liens, negative liens, and other restrictions; less common, and sometimes the filing does not specify the exact type.
How to read the numbers
- Pre-Event Encumbrance % - the promoter's personal encumbrance position before this event (e.g. a promoter holding 13% of the company with 4.81% encumbered shows 4.81%).
- Event % (% in Event) - the shares in this specific transaction as a percentage of total issued shares (a creation of 200,000 shares in a company with 12.5 crore total shares shows 0.16%).
- Post-Event Encumbrance % - the resulting position after this event (higher for a creation, lower for a release). The most useful number - the current state after the transaction.
Important: these percentages are per-promoter, not company-wide. If a company has two promoter families with separate encumbrances, each event shows only that promoter's position. The company-wide aggregate is in the quarterly Pledge data.
How encumbrance events relate to pledge data
Think of it as a bank account: the Pledge page shows your balance at the end of each quarter; the Encumbrance page shows every deposit and withdrawal as it happens.
| Question | Look at |
|---|---|
| How much of Company X is pledged right now? | Pledge data (quarterly snapshot) |
| Who pledged to which lender, and when? | Encumbrance events (per-transaction detail) |
| Is the situation getting worse between quarters? | Encumbrance events (real-time trend) |
| Which companies have the highest overall pledge? | Pledge data (sortable, comparable across companies) |
On a company page both sections appear together - the current aggregate position from pledge data, plus the recent transaction history from encumbrance events.
Open the live VIGIL Encumbrance view on TIGZIG, or see the companion Promoter Pledge page and all VIGIL data sources.