Electronic Contract Note (ECN)

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

An electronic contract note (ECN) is the digitally signed legal record of a trade that a stockbroker delivers to a client by email, under the SEBI and exchange framework that permits paperless contract notes. It is the same instrument as the traditional contract note , the binding confirmation of trades executed for a client on a given day, issued in electronic form with a digital signature in place of a physical one.

The contract note is one of the oldest and most rigorously regulated documents in the Indian securities market. It is the primary evidentiary record of a trade: it states the order and trade numbers, the price, the quantity, every charge, and the net settlement obligation. Its electronic form is not a convenience the broker adopted on its own. SEBI built the ECN framework through a sequence of circulars between 2000 and 2011, each adding conditions for digital signing, encryption, delivery logs, and the handling of bounced email, so that an emailed contract note carries the same legal weight as a printed one.

Electronic Contract Note on WebNotes

Electronic Contract Note (ECN)