Infosys chief urges BSE Ltd to go global

Infosys chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy on Friday said the new corporatised entity carved out of the erstwhile Bombay Stock Exchange, should strive to become a global exchange of choice in due course.

Addressing members of the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday, Murthy said, "It is not an impossible task. Even before the Infosys was launched we had several rounds of discussions in my place in Mumbai when we decided to make it the most respected company in the country." Murthy identified three important components on which to build the institution of the future leadership, trust and technology.

Stating that the new entity was limited by responsibility, he said that incorporation as a company would increase the responsibility of the management towards its stakeholders. Besides bracing up to the competition, the new entity should try to garner the trust of all stakeholders, he added.

Friday was the last day of the BSE as an association of persons and from Saturday the entity assumes corporate identity taking over the assets and liabilities of the erstwhile body. The transformation is taking place as per a plan approved by the Securities and Exchange Board of India in May 2005.

The corporatisation of BSE enjoins upon it to separate management from the business interests of its earlier set-up. The new entity would be board managed with 25 per cent representation for brokers against the earlier 100 per cent.

Rajnikant Patel, MD and CEO of the new entity, said the new business plans are yet to be firmed up and that all the four options for dilution of broker holding to 51 per cent would be considered while discussing the issue.