BSE eyes listing to raise revenues

The Bombay Stock Exchange is preparing for a listing and hopes to cut over-reliance on revenues from cash equity trading in two years, Madhu Kannan, the chief executive of Asia’s oldest bourse, said on Tuesday.

The Bombay Stock Exchange is preparing for a listing and hopes to cut over-reliance on revenues from cash equity trading in two years, Madhu Kannan, the chief executive of Asia’s oldest bourse, said on Tuesday.

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“We are in a preparatory stage for a listing,” he said at the India Investment Summit. “We are getting internally ready but the timeframe is something difficult to predict.”

Frankfurt-based Deutsche Boerse and Singapore Exchange each hold 5 per cent stakes in the bourse.

The exchange, which earns almost all its revenue on the trading side from cash equity market, is looking to win over investors by offering better technology and products across asset classes, Kannan said.

BSE has in recent years lost market share to its younger rival, the National Stock Exchange (NSE), and faces challenges from upstart exchanges.

BSE has about 5,000 listed companies, while the NSE has about 1,400. But the daily average turnover on the NSE in 2009 has been three times that of BSE.

“At present we have websites in Hindi, English and Gujarati... We will create more in Marathi, Tamil, Telegu and Punjabi,” the official, who did not wish to be named, said.