The Crackdown

SEBI’s diktat on shell companies, barring them from active trading, has investors in a fix.

- Mahesh Nayak

The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) directive issued on August 7, 2017, to domestic bourses to initiate action against 331 companies suspecting them to be ‘shell’ companies, thus banning them from regular trading overnight, has investors rankled.

On, August 14, 2017, the stock of J Kumar Infra projects ended at a price `186.25 per share, losing close to 35 per cent in two trading sessions. Although the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) revoked SEBI’S order that identified the company as a shell company, leading to immediate stoppage in trading of its shares, the damage had already been done –investors dumped the stock when it resumed trading on August 11. A senior industry official says, “SEBI’S hasty decision has destroyed the reputation of these companies which has institutions as investors, and now there is a high probability of them moving out of the stock.”