'Corp have major role to play in Kerala's devep'

Kochi, Dec 4: SEBI Chairman M Damodaran today urged the captains of the Kerala Industry to chalk out a comprehensive economic plan and engage political leaders to provide physical infrastructure to give a fillip to development of the state.

Addressing a gathering of CEO conclave here, Mr Damodaran said the industrialists, as producers of wealth and engineers of change, should draft an economic plan to give the right direction for the state.

''The corporates should also engage the political leaders to provide the much-needed physical infrastructure like roads in order to attract more investment to the state,'' he said.

He noted that the success story of the state should be communicated to the people concerned and this would generate growth.

''When it comes to economic development in South India, cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and to an extent Chennai are mentioned and not Kerala,'' Mr Damodaran said.

He said the industrialists have a major role to play to change this scenario.

Mr Damodaran said only 53 companies with a total capital of around Rs 10,000 crore were listed in Indian stock market.

The credit depository rate and the absorption capacity of credit for the state was low compared to other states, he noted.

While calling for a linkage between tourism and Ayurveda, Mr Damodaran noted that a proper control mechanism should be in place for controlling the mushrooming Ayurveda clinics in the state.

'' Ayurveda was the window of opportunity and the presence of sub-standard clinics would adversely affect the economic interests of the state,'' Mr Damodaran said.

He said SEBI was planning to have a cost-effective delisting mechanism to delist the untraded shares in the stock market.

Mr Damodaran also stressed the importance of education programmes for investors as the percentage of common investors was only 3.5 per cent in India compared to 30 per cent in the US.

UNI