20% investors still have shares in physical form

20% investors still have shares in physical formIt is indeed a surprise that in an era where people have now moved on to ipads close to 20% of the retail investors in the Indian market currently hold shares in physical form.

Moreover, it is to be mentioned here that close to one-third of promoters' holdings in BSE-500 companies are in physical form which makes the 2.5% of total shareholding locked.

Arun Kejriwal, of Kejriwal Research & Information Services said that as the promoters aren’t going to sell their shares on a regular basis, hence it does not make sense for them to go in to incur dematerialization expenses.

A spokesperson for HUL recently said that as per the SEBI guidelines, if one has trade in HUL shares it has to be in the form of demat but since Unilever does not trade with HUL shares, it has them in physical form.

A head of one of the largest asset management companies in India recently said that the retail investor holdings in Indian corporates have been shrinking over the last 15 years. While India is on a path to become one of the most important economy in the world, facts like these are surely still a roadblock.