BSE plans public seminar on setting up SME exchange

With the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange both planning to set up new stock exchanges dedicated to small and medium enterprises (SME), the BSE seems ahead in this race.

It is planning to provide a trading platform for the SME sector the Coimbatore region, which is rich in such enterprises, by organising a meeting to create awareness about the proposal, reports Hindu Business Line.

Listing norms for SMEs are less onerous to comply with than those of regular stock exchanges. Key concessions for SME listing, all aimed at reducing cost and time for SME public offerings, include offer document review only by the relevant stock exchange and not by the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI); disclosure of half-yearly results instead of quarterly results; and no requirement to publish results in newspapers.

Nonetheless, some entrepreneurs are apprehensive of listing their companies on exchanges for fear of losing control over the family-run business.

M Krishnan, president, Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Coimbatore, said the chamber has received a communication from BSE expressing interest in organising jointly an awareness meet about the SME exchange.

The BSE said that it had conducted programmes in Northern and Western India and also at Hyderabad and Chennai in this regard. It wanted to hold a similar meeting at Coimbatore and sought the support of the chamber.

The ICCI president said he was ready to cooperate with BSE in organising the meeting.