Operating playbook
How Polemarch works under the hood
The rules we follow when sourcing, pricing, verifying, and settling every trade. Written so a sceptical investor — or a regulator — can audit our claims line by line.
1. Sourcing
Inventory comes from two channels: employees exercising ESOPs in their employer's company, and early-round investors trimming concentrated positions. Both are first-party — no broker chain.
- Every seller passes PAN, Aadhaar, and bank-account verification before they can list.
- Listed inventory shows the seller type (employee / Series X investor) so buyers can interpret price context.
- Polemarch never holds inventory — shares stay in the seller's demat until off-market DIS execution.
2. Pricing
Prices on each share page are the lot-weighted median of recent trades, refreshed in real time. There is no hidden spread.
- Platform fee is a flat percentage shown on every invoice before payment.
- Bank charges (IMPS / NEFT / RTGS) are pass-through and itemised separately.
- Negotiated prices below the indicated band are surfaced as 'best counter' rather than hidden.
3. Verification
Every buyer completes four verification steps via a SEBI-authorised verification partner before their first trade clears.
- PAN — name match against PAN database (EXACT_MATCH or GOOD_PARTIAL_MATCH).
- Aadhaar — eKYC OTP sent to the mobile linked to Aadhaar.
- Bank — ₹1 penny-drop confirms the account holder's name.
- Demat — Client Master Report (CMR) PDF from the buyer's CDSL/NSDL DP confirms the receiving demat.
4. Settlement
Off-market transfer via Delivery Instruction Slip (DIS). The seller's DP submits the DIS citing ISIN, quantity, and the buyer's BO ID; shares move directly demat-to-demat.
- Polemarch never operates a pool account; no Polemarch-controlled custody of customer shares at any point.
- Typical settlement window is T+2 working days after payment clears.
- Stamp duty (0.015% of consideration) is collected by the seller's DP at DIS execution and reflected on the invoice.
5. Research & narrative
Every share page carries a research panel summarising the company's financial trajectory, recent funding events, and risk flags.
- Financial line items are extracted from the most recent annual report and reconciled against MCA filings.
- Funding rounds are sourced from public filings + reputable secondary sources, with each citation linked.
- Risk flags (litigation, regulator notices, governance events) are surfaced verbatim from the company's own disclosures.
6. What we don't do
Polemarch is an intermediary platform, not an advisor and not a stockbroker. We surface facts and execute trades; we do not recommend who should invest in what.
- We do not provide personalised investment advice. Educational content carries an explicit disclaimer.
- We do not register trades on a recognised exchange — all trades are off-market, depository-settled.
- We do not pool customer funds; bank flows go through Cashfree-issued Virtual Bank Accounts gated to the customer's registered bank.