Asia's oldest bourse, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), plans to set up a separate exchange for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), a senior BSE official said today.
"We plan to start a SME exchange as per market regulator Sebi's guidelines. With this, we are targeting a wide range of customers. Currently, our discussions are on with various merchant bankers and brokers to get feedback," BSE Deputy Chief Executive Officer Ashish Chauhan told PTI on the sidelines of an industry conference here.
Currently, there are almost 3,000 SMEs trading through the BSE, Chauhan said.
"It may take nearly six months for the launch. We will not do anything in a hurry," he said.
Apart from the BSE, the National Stock Exchange and new entrant MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) have also shown an interest in setting up an SME exchange.
Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) laid the groundwork to allow SMEs to list on SME exchanges recently.