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| The proposal by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to shift small-cap companies (with a paid-up capital of up to Rs 20 crore) to a new S group is likely to revive trading in dormant stocks. |
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| Members of the Bombay Stock Exchange as well as of the regional stock exchanges will be able to participate in trading in the S group. |
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| The current bull market, however, has already revived some interest in these stocks. Nearly 60 per cent of the dormant stocks have been actively traded since April 2003. |
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| A Business Standard Research Bureau (BSRB) study shows that as many as 2,489 stocks could be shifted to the proposed S group. |
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| Of these, 1,479 stocks are currently traded in the B2 group and account for 59 per cent of the total stocks listed there. 547 stocks are from the B1 group (22 per cent of the total) and 426 stocks are from the Z group (17 per cent). |
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| Interestingly, 37 scrips listed in the elite A group could also find themselves in the proposed S group. |
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| The trading pattern in these 2489 scrips shows that nearly 77 per cent (1912 stocks) are currently traded in the market while 295 stocks were last traded between January 2003 and July. 282 stocks were last traded in 2002. |
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| The list of stocks that may be shifted to the proposed S group is dominated by non-banking finance companies (307 stocks), followed by textiles and information and technology stocks (225 scrips each), pharmaceuticals (135), steel (78) and engineering (73). |
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| Of these 2,489 stocks, nearly 56 per cent (1397) scrips were last traded at a price below Rs 10. |
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| Of these, while 111 stocks traded at below rupee one, 851 stocks were traded between Re 1 and Rs 5. 435 stocks were last dealt between Rs 6 and Rs 10. |
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| 465 stocks were last traded between Rs 11 and Rs 25, 403 between Rs 26 and Rs 100. 202 stocks were last traded between Rs 101 and Rs 500 and the remaining 22 were traded above Rs 500 per share. |
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| Of the 2,489 companies, the latest shareholding data is available for only 1,769 companies. |
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| In 293 companies, the public holding is above 50 per cent. In 813, the public holds between 26 per cent and 49 per cent, while the public holdings in 536 stocks is between 11 per cent and 25 per cent. In 127 companies, the public holding is below 10 per cent. |
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