Sebi may soon issue guidelines for SMEs

Securities and Exchange Board of India may soon issue ground rules for setting up stock exchanges dedicated to the small and medium firms, enabling them to raise capital from the market.

"The Securities and Exchange Board of India is working on the concept paper on SME exchanges. It may soon release the guidelines," Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Dinsha Patel said at a seminar jointly organised by MCX-SX and the Society for Capital Market Research and Development in New Delhi on Tuesday.

He said SMEs were not able to raise capital through the market since they could not meet the listing and trading requirements of the BSE and NSE.

Hence, a separate exchange for them was required. He said experiences of SMEs listed on the stock exchange in countries like the US, UK, Japan and China could be shared.

The secretary in the MSME ministry, Dinesh Rai, said there should be more than one exchange for the SMEs. "Sebi is working on the guidelines keeping in mind the nature of SMEs.

"I feel strongly that we need to have more than one SME exchange," he said.

There are over 13 million MSMEs in the country employing about 42 million people. The BSE, NSE and the new entrant MCX Stock Exchange have shown interest for setting up a SME exchange, said an industry source.

Image: The Bombay Stock Exchange