CSGL Account stands for Constituent Subsidiary General Ledger Account (phew!). Certain SGL holders like corporates, PF trusts, individuals, institutions, state governments, Nri, Ocbs, FIIs, – registered with Sebi/Rbi can open a CSGL account but not a SGL account.

It is a second SGL account at a PDO so that they can act as a custodian on behalf of their constituents for holding T-Bills, and G-secs in demat form. It is not opened with the RBI (like the SGL).

SGL account denotes Subsidiary General Ledger which is maintained with Reserve Bank of India for holding Government Securities and T-Bills in paperless form (or what in retail is called the demat account for G-secs!). This is obviously done to facilitate Delivery v/s Payment (DvP) trades. All big banks and Primary dealers have a SGL account with RBI at Mumbai.

I am not sure about the limits for the size of the transactions now. Once upon a time it used to be Rs. 100,000 and then in multiples of Rs. 10,000. Only banks and PDs are allowed to open an account with RBI. Others have to open CSGL – as mentioned above.