While Century Enka is planning to delist its shares from the Pune and Delhi stock exchanges, Birla Century Finance (BCF) plans to delist itself from the Ahmedabad and Jaipur stock exchanges in an effort to reduce costs. The announcement comes soon after Aditya Birla group company Grasim Industries decided to delist from four stock exchanges.

Officials said that CEL is at present listed on five stock exchanges including the BSE, the Calcutta stock exchange (CSE) and the NSE. With the computerisation of these exchanges, investors can easily access online dealings for the company's equity shares from anywhere in the country.

"For the last few years, there was little or no trading in these scrips at the Pune and the Delhi stock exchanges. Consequently, the listing fees paid by the two companies did not have any cost benefit whatsoever, the official said. Incidentally, CEL was originally listed at the BSE and at later stages, also at the Pune and Delhi exchanges in order to help local shareholders, he said. The company will seek shareholder approval before delisting from the Delhi and Pune exchanges. However, the official added that as such, no special resolution was required as the company had listed on these exchanges voluntarily after the issue of equity shares to the public. On a cautionary note, the official said, "We will however, propose a special resolution for this. Cel had recorded a turnover of Rs 932.10 crore and a net profit of Rs 52 crore in 1999-2000.

Birla Century Finance, on the other hand, is a Rs 18 crore company with a net profit of little over Rs 1.70 crore in the previous fiscal. It is presently listed on the CSE, BSE, DSE, Ahmedabad and the Jaipur stock exchanges. Officials said, "With the NSE and BSE doing online trading, company shareholders have access to dealings across the country," the official clarified. The bulk of trading in the company's shares generally takes place on the CSE, BSE and the DSE, he added.

"In accordance with Sebi regulations, the company will seek shareholder approval for voluntary delisting of its equity shares from these two stock exchanges," he said, adding that the delisting will not adversely affect investors and will take effect after all approvals, permissions and sanctions were received from the authorities.

Both CEL and BCF will have to make open offers to order to allow those investors staying in the vicinity of these exchanges to dispose their holdings. This is mandatory as per Sebi regulations.