Unlisted shares
These are shares in companies that are not on any exchange. Zenith can source them from the desk’s current quotation. The price is quoted on enquiry, because there is no public price for a share that does not trade on a market, and the risk of holding one sits with the buyer.
A note from the desk
We do not put most clients into unlisted shares. Not because they are always a bad idea, but because the things that make them attractive in a conversation are the things that go wrong quietly.
There is no exchange, so there is no price and no guaranteed buyer. There is no quarterly result, so a year can pass before you learn something has changed. And an IPO is a plan, not a promise.
If you are considering this, we would rather you did it with your eyes open than with someone else's price chart. Read the eight failures below first. If any of them would genuinely hurt, this is not for you, and there is no version of this conversation where we push.
Where it does fit, it is a small position at the edge of a portfolio that is already built. Money you can leave alone for five years or longer, and would not miss if it did not come back.
We start at three lakh, and that is a floor rather than a suggestion.
Rajesh Kumar Pancholi
Founder, Zenith Wealth
Orientation
An unlisted share is a share in a company that no exchange quotes. Everything that follows from that fact is in this table, and it is the vocabulary the rest of the page uses.
| Unlisted share | Listed share | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it trades | Nowhere public. It changes hands privately between two demat accounts, which is called an off-market transfer. | On a recognised stock exchange, in an open order book, during market hours. |
| How the price is set | Negotiated between buyer and seller. Two desks can quote different numbers for the same share on the same morning. | Discovered continuously by every buyer and seller in the book, and published. |
| Who guarantees settlement | Nobody. Money moves first and shares are delivered after, with no clearing corporation between the two legs. | A clearing corporation stands between the two sides, so neither can fail the other. |
| How you exit | By finding a buyer. The desk will try. In a bad month there may be no buyer at any price. | By selling on the exchange, usually within seconds. |
| What you can see about the company | An annual filing with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. No quarterly result, no earnings call, no continuous disclosure. | Quarterly results, audited accounts, and an obligation to disclose material events as they happen. |
| What happens at an IPO | Shares held before the issue are locked in for six months from the date of allotment under Regulation 17 of SEBI's ICDR Regulations. | Not applicable. The share is already tradeable. |
| How it is taxed | Long term after 24 months at 12.5% without indexation. Short term at your slab rate. No annual exemption. | Long term after 12 months, with a ₹1.25 lakh annual exemption under Section 112A. |
| What it costs to transfer | Stamp duty at 0.015% of consideration, paid by the buyer, plus your depository participant's off-market transfer charge. | Brokerage, exchange charges and securities transaction tax, deducted on the contract note. |
A registrar is the company's record keeper for share ownership. A demat account is where your shares are held electronically. Your Client Master Report is the one page statement your broker issues that carries those account details.
Risk
In order of how likely you are to meet them, not how alarming they sound. The last two are the ones clients have not usually heard.
01
Some of these companies have filed nothing. Filings lapse and get refiled. There is no date, and nobody is obliged to give you one.
02
There is no exchange and no market maker. Selling means finding a buyer, and in a bad month there may not be one at any price. The desk will try; it cannot promise.
03
Two desks can quote different numbers for the same share on the same morning, and both are real prices. There is no order book behind either, and a quote expires within days.
04
Shares held before an IPO are locked in for six months from the date of allotment under Regulation 17 of SEBI's ICDR Regulations. The IPO you waited three years for is followed by another six months of waiting.
05
Under Section 56(2)(x), if you buy unlisted shares for materially less than their fair market value computed under Rule 11UA, the shortfall above ₹50,000 is taxed in your hands as income from other sources, in the year you buy. The cheap price is the thing that creates the liability.
06
An unlisted public company files annually with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. No quarterly result, no earnings call, no continuous disclosure obligation, no exchange to tell. By the time news reaches you it is old.
07
Funds are transferred first and the shares are delivered after. There is no clearing corporation standing between the two legs the way there is on an exchange trade. The process section sets out exactly who holds what and when.
08
SEBI's press release of 17 June 2026 cautions investors against transacting in unlisted securities on unauthorised electronic platforms, and notes that anyone doing so has no access to SEBI investor protection or to exchange grievance redressal. If a website shows a live price and a buy button, that press release is about that website.
Process
No part of this happens on this website. Five steps, with the time each one takes, and one of them carries real risk.
Step 1
You name the company and roughly how much you are considering. No commitment at this point.
Reply the same working day.
Step 2
Availability changes between sheets, so it is checked against the live quotation. The price you are given is valid for a stated window only.
One working day. The quote itself often expires within a few days.
Step 3
Identity documents, and your Client Master Report, which is the statement from your broker carrying your demat account details.
One to two working days, longer if a document is missing.
Step 4
The money goes to our broking partner's account, not to Zenith.
This is the exposed step. Your money leaves before your shares arrive, and there is no exchange clearing corporation standing between the two legs. That guarantee exists on a listed trade and does not exist here.
Same day as your transfer.
Step 5
Delivered off market into your own demat account, in your own name, and the registrar records the transfer.
Two to five working days after funds are received.
Availability
This is everything the desk could source when the page was last updated, not a selection. Availability and price are confirmed on enquiry.
Ordered alphabetically by legal name, so the order is not a ranking. List last refreshed 18 Aug 2026. A company absent from the newest sheet is removed, not kept as unavailable.
Digital healthcare
Runs an online pharmacy, diagnostics laboratories and a business-to-business distribution network supplying pharmacies and hospitals, under the PharmEasy, Thyrocare and Aknamed brands.
Based in Mumbai
Aerospace and defence
Builds and operates drones for agricultural spraying, surveying and industrial inspection, and trains commercial drone pilots.
Based in Chennai
Non-banking finance
Lends against commercial vehicles, tractors and used vehicles, and writes housing and small business loans through a branch network.
Based in Chennai
Market infrastructure
Operates a recognised stock exchange offering equity, equity derivatives, currency derivatives and debt segments.
Based in Mumbai
Hospitality
Operates a branded network of budget hotels and homes in India and overseas, franchising and leasing rooms rather than owning them.
Based in Gurugram
Quick commerce
Runs a ten-minute grocery and essentials delivery service from a network of dark stores across Indian cities.
Based in Bengaluru
Cost
There is no entry load and no management fee, because this is a purchase rather than a product. Three things cost money.
It sits inside the price the desk quotes you, so you will not see it as a separate line. Zenith is paid out of this spread and not by a fee charged to you.
0.015% of the consideration on an off-market transfer, payable by the buyer.
Your depository participant charges a flat fee per off-market delivery. It is set by them, not by Zenith, and appears on their statement.
Tax
Long-term gains on unlisted shares are taxed at 12.5% without indexation, after a holding period of 24 months. Short-term gains are taxed at your slab rate. The ₹1.25 lakh annual exemption you may know from listed equity does not apply here.
| Unlisted share | Listed share | |
|---|---|---|
| Holding period for long term | 24 months | 12 months |
| Long-term rate | 12.5% without indexation | 12.5% under Section 112A |
| Short-term rate | Your slab rate, so up to 30% plus surcharge and cess | 20% under Section 111A |
| Annual exemption on long-term gains | None. The whole gain is taxable from the first rupee, because Section 112A covers listed equity on which securities transaction tax has been paid. | ₹1,25,000 a year under Section 112A |
There is a second tax point, and it is the one people miss. Under Section 56(2)(x), if you buy unlisted shares for materially less than their fair market value computed under Rule 11UA, the shortfall above ₹50,000 is taxed as income from other sources in the year you buy, at your slab rate. A price that looks like a bargain is what creates that liability.
General information as at 18 August 2026. Thresholds and rates change, and each reader's position is their own. Please take it to your chartered accountant.
Fit
A small allocation at the edge of a portfolio that already has its core built.
At least ₹3 lakh, which is the floor the desk works to, and still a small share of the whole.
Money committed for five years or more, with no date attached to it.
Held by someone who would not be hurt if the position went to zero.
We decline where the core of a portfolio is not built yet.
We decline where the money is needed on a date, for a house, a fee or a wedding.
We decline where the reason for buying is a price chart on another website or an IPO rumour.
We decline where this would be a large share of what someone has.
For most readers who end up here, the honest destination is a plain mutual fund category, and that is not a consolation prize.
Yes. Buying shares of an unlisted public company privately is legal, and the transfer happens off market between two demat accounts. What is not permitted is an unauthorised electronic platform presenting itself as a place to trade them: SEBI's Press Release PR 32/2026 of 17 June 2026 cautions investors against transacting in unlisted securities on such platforms and websites.
You enquire, the desk confirms availability and quotes a price valid for a stated window, you complete KYC and send your Client Master Report, you transfer the funds, and the shares are delivered off market into your own demat account. It takes five to ten working days end to end. Nothing about it happens on this website.
₹3 lakh. That is a floor rather than a suggested size, and meeting it is not a reason to proceed. For most portfolios the sensible position, if there is one at all, is a small share of the whole.
Because there is no public price to show. An unlisted share has no exchange and no order book, so a price is negotiated between two parties, and the desk's own quotes carry an expiry measured in days. Any number published to the open web would be a fiction with a timestamp on it.
You keep the shares, and you keep the problem of selling them. No company is obliged to list, filings lapse and get refiled, and there is no date anyone can give you. Your exit in that case is another private buyer, if one can be found.
No. There is no exchange and no market maker, so selling means the desk finding a buyer at a negotiated price. In a quiet month there may be no buyer at any price. Treat the position as illiquid for its whole life.
Yes. Shares held before the IPO are locked in for six months from the date of allotment under Regulation 17 of SEBI's ICDR Regulations. You cannot sell into the listing, and you cannot sell for six months after it.
Long-term capital gains on unlisted shares are taxed at 12.5% without indexation after a 24-month holding period, and short-term gains are taxed at your slab rate. The ₹1.25 lakh annual exemption under Section 112A does not apply, so the whole gain is taxable from the first rupee. Separately, buying below fair market value can create a liability under Section 56(2)(x).
No. Only recognised stock exchanges are authorised to trade securities, and SEBI's Press Release PR 32/2026 of 17 June 2026 cautions investors against transacting in unlisted securities on unauthorised electronic platforms. Anyone who does has no access to SEBI investor protection, exchange grievance redressal or online dispute resolution.
PAN, address proof for KYC, bank proof, and your Client Master Report, which is the one page statement from your broker carrying your demat account details. The shares are delivered into that account, so the details have to match exactly.
Two to five working days from receipt of funds for the shares to reach your demat account, and five to ten working days from a confirmed quote for the whole sequence. None of it is instant, and a missing KYC document is the usual cause of delay.
Zenith introduces and services the relationship, and is paid out of the dealing spread inside the quoted price, with no separate fee charged to you. The trade is executed through the broking partner named in the process section, and the shares are held in your own demat account in your own name. Zenith is an AMFI-registered distributor and is not registered with SEBI as an Investment Adviser.
An enquiry, not an order
This form collects an intention, not an order. Nothing is reserved, no price is fixed, and no money moves. Someone from the desk replies with availability and a quote.
