The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) CEO and managing director Rajnikant Patel today said that the bourse was open to the idea of a separate platform for small and medium enterprises (SME) to tap the capital markets."We can always explore the possibilities (for a separate platform) for SMEs as they have different needs and hence we have to take it into consideration," Patel told PTI."You cannot charge the same listing fees that is charged by the national level exchanges because SMEs are small capital base companies. They need differential pricing." "There is a strong case for a separate trading platform for SMEs to enable them to raise risk capital."As stricter corporate governace norms for trading on the national level bourses BSE and NSE are required, it is increasingly becoming difficult for SMEs to tap them."SMEs are coming in hordes to raise money from the capital market but stock exchanges cannot afford to dilute compliance norms for them.""The London Stock Exchange has received very good response by setting up Alternative Investment Market (AIM) for medium and small companies where regulatory norms are diluted," Patel said."We need a level of compliance which may or may not be easy for SMEs to comply," he added.
