MillenniumPost
Business

Indian bourses can help raise $150-bn capital a year: BSE

Pitching for stock exchanges to become a major avenue for raising capital and channelising them into investments, BSE CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan on Thursday said that bourses can help companies garner $100-150 billion worth funds a year, marking an over 10-fold increase from current levels. He also said the exchanges need to shift their focus away from being a place to do ‘trading just for the sake of trading’ to become such a platform for capital formation.

‘At BSE, in the last three-four years, companies have been raising close to $10-12 billion by way of IPOs, offer for sale, debt instruments etc. We have to raise the bar by expanding our facilities and our ability to take it close to $100-150 billion a year so that the funds are channelised into investments,’ Chauhan said in an interview here.

The BSE chief, who was here to attend the India Investors Forum and other events in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s high-profile US visit, said that the role of stock exchanges can be important in helping ‘India create $1-1.5 trillion investments into productive sectors and help create jobs’. ‘We need to steadfastly focus on helping India raise capital and create wealth rather than only doing trading for the sake of trading. Basically, exchanges need to change their mindset.’

‘Today, a large portion of the exchanges’ revenue come from trading, that is from transaction charges, and we need to focus now more on capital raising. We must participate in India’s growth and become a catalyst and growth engine for our economic growth story. We must shift focus from trading to capital raising,’ he said.

Chauhan said India’s regulatory framework today is at the forefront of modern thinking on investor protection and rights. ‘There is special focus on providing minority investors their rights and bringing transparency and fairness in the working of companies.’
Next Story
Share it