Over 1 mn active unlisted private companies exist: Jaitley in Parliament

There are around 10.68 lakh active unlisted private limited companies and 66,063 unlisted public limited companies operating in the country, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.

Of the 10,68,829 active unlisted private limited companies, 2,10,367 are registered in Maharashtra, 1,97,333 in Delhi and 1,24,148 registered in West Bengal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said during Question Hour.

Among the 66,063 active unlisted public limited companies, 13,030 were registered in Maharashtra, 11,607 in Delhi and 9,311 in West Bengal.

Jaitley said the Companies Act, 2013 [Section 29] provides power to the government to mandate that, as in the case of listed public companies, other classes of public companies should also issue securities in dematerialised form.

Accordingly, the ministry carried out consultations with SEBI, depositories and other stakeholders to mandate, in a phased manner, for public unlisted companies to issue securities in dematerialised form with a view to bring in greater transparency in shareholding and share transactions, better acceptance of such shares as collateral and mitigation of disputes and risks associated with securities issued in paper form.

Jaitley said the SEBI had in their response stated that its depository regulatory framework enables such prescription.

No final decision on the prescription of classes of public companies has yet been taken, he said.