8 Indian MNCs registered in Nasdaq:Asia-Pacific Chief

Kolkata, Apr 7 (UNI) In spite of stringent international norms,eight Indian multi-nationals have so far been able to list themselves in Nasdaq, the leading US based stock exchange, and had remained very successful so far.

This view was expressed here today by Mr Ghanshyam Dass,Managing Director, Nasdaq,Asia Pacific region,during an interactive sessioin with members of Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry(BCCI) and later talking to newsmen.

Referring to the unabated bullish trend of the Indian stock markets, Mr Dass said though off late it had become rather volatile and even dropped a few hundred points,its basic strength remained static and continued to attract a large number of foreign institutional investors.

However,he said,till a few years ago no Indian Company even thought of applying to either Dow Jones or Nasdaq. But with the emergence of a number of major players and following the surge in foreign acquisitions many Indian MNCs, including the ICICI and HDFC Banks, had decided to list themselves in leading internatuional stock exchanges, including Nasdaq, to provide greater value for money to their shareholders.

''So far about 75,000 large corporate houses across the globe had listed themselves in Nasdaq,'' Mr Dass said adding apart from stringent regulations,payment of 3.5 per cent of the public issue had been made mandatory for every company to be eligible for becoming a member of Nasdaq.

Referring to the wide range of services being provided by Nasdaq which had also opend a modern portal services for smallscale companies, he said though they were capable of handling about 10 billion shares,at present only about two billions shares were being handled worldwide every day.

''We are also planning to tie up with the Shanhai and Singapore stock exchanges for widening our service base,'' Mr Dass informed.

Later participating in the interactive session, he said in the wake of new surge among the Indian companies for being listed in international stock exchanges, a large number of Indian brokers were now preparing themselves to meet the growing demand.

He also described the Indian stock market as one of the strongest in the world and hailed the role of SEBI as one of the most respected regulators in the world.

UNI