The Union ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) may give more time to unlisted companies to convert their share certificates and bonds into the electronic (dematerialised) format.
The September 30 deadline for this purpose, proposed by MCA in June for companies that had raised money by issue of shares, debentures or any other financial instruments from the public or by accepting deposits from the public, may get extended due to concerns expressed by several small firms, a ministry official said.
According to him, most big companies had opted for the electronic format. It is only the small players that are seeking more time.
The official added the proposal to convert paper certificates to demat form is already part of the Companies Bill, 2011, that is before the Cabinet. Hence, a hasty decision to notify The Companies (Dematerialisation of Certificates) Rules, 2011, may not be needed.
The move was expected to bring in transparency and an easy transaction platform for both companies and investors, in addition to making regulatory scrutiny more effective.
The MCA plan will have no impact on publicly-listed companies, as their promoters will have to move to this new format by September 30, following a Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) directive.
Sebi had earlier said the promoters of all listed companies should dematerialise their holdings fully by by September 30.
Failing this, these companies could be dropped from the derivatives segment. That would mean restrictions on intra-day trading. The regulator had said it could also cut trading bands from five per cent to two per cent.
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