Unlisted and pre-IPO shares explained: how they are bought and transferred, how to check whether a quoted price is fair, the platforms investors use, tax rules, and the risks, including SEBI’s warnings about unregulated platforms.
Unlisted shares are shares of companies that are not traded on a stock exchange, so you buy them privately from an existing holder rather than through your broker’s order screen. Pre-IPO shares are simply unlisted shares of a company that is expected to list, which is why they attract most of the interest. This guide … Read more >>
There is no single official price for an unlisted share, so you check its value by comparing several price signals (dealer quotes, recent funding rounds, ESOP buyback prices and valuation reports) and then testing them against the company’s own numbers and its listed peers. A fair estimate is usually a range, not a figure, and … Read more >>
The biggest risks in unlisted shares are that you may not be able to sell when you want, and that the price you pay may have little to do with what the company is worth. On top of that come thin disclosure, dealer risk, a lock-in after any IPO, the absence of regulatory protection and … Read more >>
Unlisted shares in India are mostly bought through dealers and online platforms that source shares from existing holders and transfer them to your demat account off-market. None of these platforms is a SEBI-recognised stock exchange, and in June 2026 SEBI repeated its warning that investors using such platforms get no exchange-backed investor protection. This article … Read more >>