Promoters face a deep freeze on demat holdings

The number of companies with promoters whose demat accounts were frozen by the stock exchanges due to non-compliance increased over the past year.

- SACHIN P MAMPATTA

The BSE froze promoter demat accounts in 457 companies, according to data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi's) 2024-25 annual report released on August 12.

These numbers are broadly higher than those of the previous year, although lower than in 2022-23.

Of the 5,452 companies listed on the BSE, 4,463 were traded as of March 2025. The frozen promoters accounted for more than a tenth of these traded entities. The BSE also has the largest number of listed companies, including many older legacy firms with limited operations.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE), which has 2,720 listed companies, froze the demat accounts of 73 firms. The Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India (MSEI) froze 36 of its 263 listed companies. The BSE is the oldest of the three exchanges, followed by the NSE and then the MSEI.