Listed cos need to sell shares worth Rs32,000-cr to meet shareholding norms: SEBI

Listed companies in the country will have to sell shares worth Rs32,000 crore to achieve minimum public shareholding norm, U K Sinha, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), said today.

Based on July valuations, Sinha said, listed private companies would have to sell shares worth Rs21,000 crore and listed government companies would have to sell shares worth Rs11,000 crore to met minimum shareholding norms.

SEBI had, in late 2010, come out with norms saying listed private sector companies should have a minimum public shareholding of 25 per cent and government firms should have a minimum public shareholding of 10 per cent to stay listed.

The guidelines were to be complied with in three years' time. SEBI had kept the deadline at 31 July 2013.

Speaking at a national conference of the PHDCCI, Sinha also said provisions are already in place for imposing penalties on companies violating SEBI norms.

"I would like to clarify that violation of listing agreement or violation of Securities Contract Regulation Rules, the consequences of that is already provided in various sections," he said.