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Senior citizen's query: What should I do with old physical and demat shares of delisted companies?

balwant jain
By Balwant Jain

3 min read | Updated on August 08, 2026, 07:28 IST

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SUMMARY

A senior citizen investor seeks advice on handling old physical and demat shares of delisted or defunct companies and whether losses can be claimed.

senior citizen query

As regards shares held in physical form, you will have to find out whether the company still exists.

Many investors continue to hold shares of companies that have been delisted, closed down, or become inactive over the years. For senior citizens who invested their savings decades ago, dealing with such old holdings can be confusing, especially when shares exist in both physical and demat form.

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Today's Q&A explains such details in response to a query by a reader.

Question: I am a senior citizen (73 years) and hold some shares of a few companies in physical and demat form. Most of these were purchased when I was an NRI before September 30, 2012.  Most of these companies do not exist now or are delisted. Kindly advise what I should do with those shares, as I have spent my hard-earned money on those shares. Your expert advice, especially on such shares that I currently hold in demat account and in physical certificate form, is needed.
Answer: Capital gains or loss arise when a capital asset is transferred or extinguished. As far as shares in a demat account are concerned, for the delisted shares, the loss can not be said to arise as long as the shares sit in your demat account.
In case some of the shares have disappeared from your demat account due to extinguishment as well, the loss is said to have arisen in the year in which the shares were extinguished by the company. So for those shares which were extinguished in earlier years, you cannot claim the deduction for loss of the same in the current year and therefore the loss incurred in respect of those shares is lost forever.
In respect of the shares which are delisted but still reflected in your demat account, you can transfer these shares at a very nominal amount through an off-market deal to your family member/friend to claim the loss which you can claim while filing the ITR.

As regards shares held in physical form, you will have to find out whether the company still exists. If the company is closed or has disappeared, you can claim the loss in case the name of the company has been removed from the records of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and that, too, if the same has happened during the current year.

For the companies which are still there on the records of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, in my opinion, you cannot claim the loss.

Have a personal finance, mutual fund, or income tax query? We will try to get them answered by experts. Write to sangeeta.ojha@rksv.in
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed above are those of respective experts/commentators and do not reflect the views of Upstox. The above Q&A is only for informational purposes and should not be considered investment or tax advice from Upstox. Please consult a tax expert for your complex tax problems.

About The Author

balwant jain
Balwant Jain is a Mumbai-based tax and investment expert.

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