¹ [Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or any other law for the time being in force,—

   (a)  an issuer, by the issue of securities to one or more depositories, shall, in respect of such issue, be chargeable with duty on the total amount of securities issued by it and such securities need not be stamped;

   (b)  the transfer of registered ownership of securities from a person to a depository or from a depository to a beneficial owner shall not be liable to duty;

   Explanation.—For the purposes of this section, the expression “beneficial ownership” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Depositories Act, 1996 (22 of 1996)]