Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS) The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Tuesday began operating its SME platform, EMERGE, and Thejo Engineering became the first company to got listed in the segment.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram launched the platform. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman U.K. Sinha was present on the occasion.

“Ensuring success of the SME (small and medium enterprises) platform is one of our top priorities. We have worked out regulations for the SME platform, keeping in mind that this is a market only for informed investors,” Sinha said.

“Therefore, a higher investment threshold has been kept, so that only investors who have the understanding and the financial strength to invest come in to the SME platform,” he added.

Based on investor feedback, NSE has put in place a strong and credible admission process for listing on EMERGE. These processes, including third-party diligence, will provide confidence to investors.

At the smae time, NSE’s handholding of small and medium entrepreneurs will give confidence to the emerging companies.

Research support to listed issuers and options of alternate trading options are being offered to help improve liquidity and secondary trading interest.

NSE managing director Ravi Narain said, “We are also collaborating with the risk investor community and other institutions to create an electronic platform to improve investment efficiency in early stage and start-up enterprises.”

NSE has developed a community portal called India venture board. It is an electronic market place for increasing primary and secondary flow of venture capital and private equity investments into India by connecting various stakeholders.

NSE is also trying to create awareness about the role of “nominated investors” on the SME platform. These investors provide support to merchant bankers for their underwriting and market making obligations.