Sebi crackdown on shell companies: SAT lifts trading curbs on Parsvnath, 5 others

Out of the 331 companies on the list, more than 160 are actively traded shares on the exchanges.

Mumbai: The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Friday lifted Sebi's trading restrictions on shares of six suspected shell companies, including Parsvnath Developers, and asked the regulator to hear them and also probe them.

The other five companies which got relief today are Kavit Industries, Pincon Spirit, Signet Industries, SQS India BFSI and KKalpana Industries.

Capital market regulator Sebi had on August 7 had asked stock exchanges to restrict trading in shares of 331 suspected shell companies, some of which have several well- known domestic and foreign investors.

The move came after the watchdog received a list of such firms from the corporate affairs ministry and many of them are under the scanner of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and the Income Tax Department.

Of the 331 such entities, the six companies have moved the SAT against the Sebi direction and got reprieve today.

Yesterday two others, too, got the curbs lifted by SAT.

At the hearing today, the companies submitted their respective financials along with other filings before the tribunal to establish that they are not shell companies but are in full compliance with all regulations.

Following this, SAT lifted the trading restrictions imposed on these companies and the counters of these firms are likely to resume normal trading from Monday.

At the same time, SAT said Sebi and stock exchanges can hear these companies and begin probe into their business operations.

Yesterday, SAT had stayed trading restrictions imposed on J Kumar Infraprojects and Prakash Industries, observing that Sebi issued the list without investigating the credentials or fundamentals of these firms.

Of the 331 entities on the list, over 160 are actively traded on the exchanges.