3,300 companies may be delisted: Damodaran

More than 3,300 companies will be out of the public domain once the market regulator implements the guidelines for regional stock exchanges (RSEs).

An expert committee of Sebi has submitted a set of recommendations on the future of RSEs on May 8.

Sebi chairman M Damodaran said that more than 80% of the companies listed only on the regional stock exchanges were not complying with the listing agreement of the exchanges and corporate governance norms.

"These stocks will be delisted from the exchanges. In fact, a lot of companies will be automatically delisted if the stock exchanges where the stocks are listed are dismantled," he added.

Sebi chairman also pointed out that the delisting of these companies would not hurt investors' interest as public holding in them was negligible. "Most of the companies are non-existent, and are also not being traded. These are a regulatory burden," he said.