Sebi has issued orders under section 11 B of SEBI Act, which empowers the regulator's board to issue directions to any person, as may be appropriate in the interest of investors in securities and the securities market. The list has been forwarded to various stock exchanges in the country. The Sebi has asked the bourses to check and report whether these individuals have associated with any of the broking entities within their teritory, in the individual capacity or as directors.

As a sequence to the prime minister's assurence to the small investors at a FICCI meeting earlier, the ministry of finance and company affairs had jointly initiated a search for vanished companies in association with Sebi and stock exchanges. This would be the first disciplinary move on such companies and their directors, after the new government assume charge.

According to the HSE sources, the exchange has already initiated legal action against the vanished companies after preliminary investigations from their side. The inter-departmental task force set up to bring the vanished companies to book had identified over 15 companies in the AP region.

Out of the 830 and odd companies listed on HSE, about 100 companies have not complied with the listing agreement. As per the directions from Sebi, the bourse had already taken up investigations about the whereabouts of the directors of the vanished companies, said the sources.