The decision was taken at a meeting of the working group on dematerialisation held here.

The group was informed that the trading and delivering the 12 scrips which are now in the compulsory list for all investors from January 4.

SEBI, in a statement, said effective May 31, 1999, delivery of shares would be compulsory in dematerialised form for all investors in respect of shares of 40 companies.

To facilitate the selling of physical shares, which are in the list for compulsory dematerialised delivery, by small investors, Mumbai Stock Exchange, National Stock Exchange and Delhi Stock Exchange have agreed to work out arrangements. A small investor delivering physical shares upto 500 in number or Rs 25,000 in value which ever is less, can deliver theshares to the clearing house immediately after the sale.

The clearing house will arrange for transfer and demat of such shares on behalf of the seller in such a manner so as to complete the dematerialised delivery within the prescribed settlement cycle and appropriate charges would be charged to the selling broker who in turn would recover from the seller, SEBI said.