The three leading stock exchanges of the country, the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and MCX-SX, have applied for launching a separate segment for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The expression of interest has been sent to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). While top officials of BSE and MCX-SX confirmed the development, the NSE spokesperson admitted the exchange was applying.
“We have sent the preliminary application to Sebi for an SME exchange,” said Madhu Kannan, MD and CEO, BSE. “We’ve already applied for an SME exchange,” said Joseph Massey, MD & CEO, MCX-SX. The NSE spokesperson said the exchange was interested in the SME segment. “We are interested and are applying for the licence,” said the spokesperson.
The issue of a separate segment for SMEs has been in the pipeline since May 2008. Only recently did the market regulator issue the guidelines.
“Attempts in India to launch an SME exchange are not new. This will be the fourth attempt. We still do not know what went wrong in our earlier attempts. But only by trying will we get there. We will try to get the feedback from the market on what went wrong in our previous experiments,” Sebi Chairman C B Bhave said while delivering the keynote address at an event organised by the SME Chamber of India.
“Sebi will make a very constructive effort. We have framed the norms taking into consideration the constraints of small companies. But as a regulator, we have to balance that with the interest of the investor,” added Bhave.