Less than 1.0pc RJSCF-registered companies get listed on bourses

Less than one per cent of companies registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSCF) are listed on the country's bourses, sources concerned said.

Currently, approximately 0.15 million companies are registered with the RJSCF. But of them, only 0.198 per cent or 297 companies are listed on the stock market, according to the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) data.

"Initially, we may identify 50 large corporates and pursue them for listing on the capital market," they mentioned.

A large number of companies, especially multinational companies (MNCs) and foreign companies are running their business in the country. But only few are listed on the stock exchanges, DSE managing director K.A.M. Majedur Rahman told the FE on Tuesday.

"We have some regulatory obstacles. Now a company must have a minimum paid-up capital of Tk 300 million for going public," he said.

He added: "The share market has huge potential. Unfortunately, we are yet to tap that. We hope that the stock market will be more vibrant in near future."

"The authority concerned has formulated regulations to bring small companies into the share market. Under separate trading platforms, a company with minimum paid-up capital of Tk 50 million and below will be eligible to raise funds by using the platform according to qualified investors' rules," the DSE boss said.

Currently, merchant banks/asset management companies are busy with trading in the markets instead of doing the activities they are meant for. As a result, there is a large gap in the country's bourses, a senior DSE official said.

Earlier, the DSE proposed that the finance ministry should take measures so that the state-owned enterprises (SoEs) and MNCs offload their shares in the country's capital market, the official said, arguing that it would help deepen the market and mitigate vulnerability. 

The DSE proposed formation of two or three committees comprising representatives from different ministries, the Bangladesh Bank (BB), Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), other relevant state agencies and the two bourses to recommend, rearrange and find out ways of bringing more shares in the capital market.

The government, stakeholders and market analysts had long been talking about the need for bringing stocks of more companies in the market, but the SoEs, MNCs and other foreign companies prefer to be non-responsive.

The finance ministry is likely to discuss the proposals, made by the DSE, in a next meeting on offloading of shares (SoEs), a high official of the ministry said.  

Presently, there are a good number of companies registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms. A significant improvement in the regulatory support is needed for increasing participation of new companies in the bourses, a stock market expert said.

The government is trying hard to get shares of the 26 SoEs offloaded on the capital market. But the ministries and divisions concerned are reluctant towards offloading shares.

Only 13 MNCs operating in the country have been listed on the two bourses while only eight SoEs offloaded their shares in the market since 2009.

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