New Delhi, Aug. 14 -- Many investors and their families across India still hold old physical share certificates issued decades ago, which are often discovered while sorting through inherited documents, family lockers or forgotten investment files. Frequent posts on social media show people finding paper shares that had remained untouched for years, with some even seeking advices on what to do with them.

If you come across such certificates, it is important to know that converting them into demat holdings may be tricky. Decades-old records, missing documents and other succession-related issues can make the process lengthy and complicated, especially when the original shareholder is no longer alive.

In order to help investors resolve such...