How to Check if a Stock Is Under GSM or ASM

To check GSM or ASM status for a stock, you read three things: the exchange's published list, the latest surveillance circular, and the numeric surveillance indicator carried against the security. All three are public and all three are exchange-issued. None of them is a view about the company, and none of them tells you who owns the stock.

The three places status is published

1. The stage-wise list. NSE publishes a file named "List of scrips shortlisted in Graded Surveillance Measure", containing stage-wise GSM details, in its graded surveillance measure section. The ESM equivalent is a file called esm-latest.csv in the exchange's reports section. These are the authoritative snapshots, and they carry the stage, not just presence.

2. The circulars. Every change is announced by circular. NSE's own guidance is that all surveillance actions are made effective in a coordinated manner across the exchanges, with a very short notice issued after market hours, typically one trading day before the effective date. If you read only the list, you are always one circular behind.

3. The surveillance indicator. Each security under a measure carries a numeric code. When an order is placed on such a security, NEAT and NEAT+ display an alert reading that the security is under a surveillance measure with the relevant indicator, asking whether to continue.

Reading the surveillance indicator codes

The indicator is the fastest single field to read, because it encodes both the framework and the stage. NSE's consolidated list, issued under circular NSE/SURV/57110 dated 14 June 2023, assigns:

Two details in that table are easy to misread. The GSM range runs 1 to 6 because it is a legacy range: the framework itself was cut from six stages to four in the joint surveillance meeting of 28 November 2019, notified by circular NSE/SURV/42790 dated 29 November 2019. And codes 25 and 26 are encumbrance flags rather than surveillance stages, which is a different signal entirely. See how to check promoter pledging.

The review cycles are not the same

A stock's status can change on any of several schedules, which is why a status check needs a date attached.

GSM carries one more caveat that limits how far you can reason from the list. NSE states that GSM stage movements are based on pre-defined objective criteria that are currently not disseminated in the public domain. You can see the stage; you cannot reconstruct exactly why.

What a status check does not answer

The framework tells you the trading conditions on a security, not the ownership. A stock at GSM Stage III trades once a week, on a trade for trade basis, with an additional surveillance deposit of 100 percent of trade value from the buyer. That is a market-structure fact.

Who was buying or selling, and whether anything changed in the register, is a filings question:

• Shareholding pattern for quarterly promoter, FII and DII movement.
• Bulk and block deals for large disclosed trades on specific dates.
• Pledge and invocation disclosures for forced selling, which is often what a concentration-driven flag is reacting to.

Both the GSM and ESM FAQs state that shortlisting under those frameworks is purely on account of market surveillance and should not be construed as an adverse action against the company or entity. For how the frameworks differ, see GSM vs ASM surveillance and what is the ASM list.

Flock publishes the underlying exchange and regulator filings, each with its date and a link back to source. Surveillance status is the exchanges' call. Not investment advice.