Sebi expects Indonext to go live from January

Bombay Stock Exchange's Indonext, the alternative trading platform for small and medium-sized companies, will become operational by January, G N Bajpai, chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), said Tuesday.

Once the platform is ready, small and medium-sized companies will move from the BSE and the NSE to Indonext, he said.

Bajpai was speaking on the sidelines of the Asian Venture Forum India, 2004.

On whether Indonext will be different from the beleaguered Over the Counter Exchange of India, Bajpai said Indonext would be different in two ways. First, it would be exclusive for small and medium-sized companies and second, it will have a large number of participants.

"All the regional stock exchanges will be joining Indonext," he said. The listing agreement will also be relaxed for companies to help them to join Indonext, he said.

Bajpai said once Indonext is launched, angel investors would be able to exit from companies they invest in more quickly.

"The liquidity in small and medium-sized companies will improve and hence waiting period for angel investor will not be large," he said.

Earlier, the BSE had said the platform would enable shares of companies with paid-up capital up to Rs 200 million listed and traded on the BSE and various participating regional stock exchanges to be traded in a national market through a single order book on the BSE's online trading system.

On the T+1 settlement issue, he said the SEBI is waiting for the 400 cities and towns to be covered under RTGS (real-time gross settlement) before T+1 settlement is implemented.