Atherstone launches BRIC Index

* India IPO Index for both Large Cap and Mid Cap companies

* Company launches globally the first sectoral indices for BRIC Countries

Chennai, February 14, 2008: In a move that will benefit global institutional investors to take effective investment decision in emerging capital markets, Atherstone Capital Markets Ltd, a financial services intermediation organization, today announced the launch of Atherstone BRIC Index. Atherstone Capital Markets is the first South Asian Investment Bank to launch a BRIC Index.

In yet another pathbreaking development for the global capital markets, Atherstone has also launched three sectoral indices ,Atherstone BRIC Oil & Gas Index, Atherstone BRIC Power Index and Atherstone BRIC Bankex. These products are expected to be well received by global institutional investors and have full relevance to both developed and fast emerging economies.

Atherstone Capital Markets Limited is also in the process of launching several sectoral indices which would cover BRIC economies.

Atherstone has selected the most widely traded blue chip indices of these four countries - Brazil: BrX100, Russia: RTS 50, India: Nifty and China:SSE50 as the Index Universe for Atherstone BRIC Index.

Explaining the rationale behind the launch of Atherstone BRIC Index, Mr Gurunath Mudlapur, CIO, Atherstone Capital Markets Ltd. said, "We believe that in the next 30 years, the phenomenal growth in the BRIC economies would make the GDP of the BRIC-4 economies almost equivalent to the GDP of the todays' G6 nations. These indices would help global institutional investors investing into emerging markets to make more informed, effective and timely investment decisions. This tool is especially good for long term investors."

The Atherstone BRIC Index is calculated on full market capitalization basis in US$ terms and the index would be reviewed on a yearly basis. It would comprise of 60 companies and has been calculated since July 1, 2004.

Atherstone BRIC sectoral Indices:

Atherstone has already constructed indices on three major sectors: Atherstone BRIC Oil & Gas Index, Atherstone BRIC Power Index and Atherstone BRIC Bankex. Atherstone would shortly be launching several sectoral indices to cover all important industries like infrastructure, automobiles, retail, telecom, media and pharmacueticals.

Atherstone India IPO Large-Cap Index and Atherstone India IPO Mid-Cap Index:

Based on the extensive research of the Indian primary markets, Atherstone Capital Markets believes that the time has come to create a new investment asset class specifically dedicated to IPOs in Indian markets, over the long term.

"These indices will help in tracking the behaviour of the Indian primary markets and should be a very useful tool for all categories of investors interested in this class of asset", Mr.Mudlapur said.

Enabling the new tools for benchmarking clarity with investors on the IPO markets, Atherstone Capital Markets Ltd. launched two specific primary market indices for India, i.e Atherstone India IPO Large Cap Index and Atherstone India IPO Mid Cap Index, covering a large spectrum of Indian primary markets.

The IPO Large-Cap Index would comprise of those companies which have a minimum market capitalization of US$ 100 million based on the size and issue price of the IPO. The market capitalization for Atherstone India IPO Mid-Cap Index should be between US$ 25 million to US$ 100 million.

About Atherstone Capital Markets Ltd:

Atherstone Capital Markets Ltd. (ACML), is a SEBI registered Investment Bank providing Investment Banking and Advisory Services, to corporates and institutions across business sectors and throughout business cycles. Headquartered in Mumbai, India, ACML also has offices in New Delhi and Hyderabad, and affiliates across Kolkata, Bangalore, Geneva, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Bangkok and Dubai.

ACML services include Private Equity, IPO Advisory, Structured Products, Mergers and Acquisitions, Strategic Research and Index Products to corporates and institutions, across business sectors and throughout business cycles. ACML is able to provide these services across industries as diverse as: Oil & Gas, Shipping, Logistics, Media & Entertainment, Gems & Jewellery, Textiles, Retail, Telecom, Realty & Infrastructure, Hospitality and Engineering, due to its strong management team with diverse backgrounds and experience.

To know more please log onto: www.atherstone.in and www.atherstoneindices.com