Bse Plans Group For Trading In Errant Firms

In a bid to caution investors against errant companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the bourse is planning to create a separate group in which these scrips can be traded. The issue came up for discussion at the governing board meeting held on Tuesday.

Currently, about 658 companies listed on the BSE have not paid their listing fees for 1997. In addition, most of these companies have not informed the exchange about their book closure dates, half yearly and annual results, and not complied with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) norms on minimum number of shareholders.

 

The exchange has the power to suspend trading in these companies till they comply with listing norms. However, it does not serve any purpose to the investors who have invested in the shares of these companies. At the same time, we would like to caution the investors who trade in these scrips. So we are thinking of creating a separate group for all such companies, said a governing board member.

The new group will be called the Z group or B3 group. The investors who trade in this group will be doing so at their own risk as the exchange has fulfilled its duty about informing the investor about the perils of trading in such companies, the member added.

Some of the prominent companies in the proposed group include J K Synthetics and Modern group companies.

Apart from this, BSE will be submitting a list of companies which have disappeared without a trace to the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The exchange will be seeking the help of RoC to trace out these companies.

The BSE has been initiating a series of measures to resolve the number of pending investor grievances. Out of the 89,682 complaints by investors against listed companies during 1997, the exchange has resolved 46,666 cases during the year.

In order to bring down the number of old pending cases of investors against members of the exchange, the bourse has set up an Investors' Grievances Redressal Committee to examine the long pending cases.

The exchange has also resolved a large majority of the pending complaints between investors and members of the exchange. Out of 1424 complaints during 1997, the exchange has successfully settled 1311 complaints.