Kolkata's Lalbazar is home to at least 300 shell companies
At least 70 per cent people involved in opening shell companies are not even CAs but only entry operators. LATEST NEWS : This article was first published on Business Standard on Feb 20, 2017. Business Standard is republishing this article in light of Sebi imposing trading restrictions on suspected shell companies Lalbazar , one of the oldest areas of Kolkata and once the home of merchant princes of the East India Company, is now the residence to shell companies. Still famous for colonial-era commodities such as tea and dying goods and services such as typewriters and wedding bands, the bustling area in central Kolkata is almost synonymous with the city police headquarters, housed in a red brick building at 18 Lalbazar Street. Right across the street is the dilapidated Mercantile Buildings at 9/12. In its recent crackdown on shell companies, the income tax (I-T) department has identified this address as the home of 90 per cent — or 300 — of...