Lehman Brothers' collapse will not affect Indian mkt: Bharti

New Delhi, Sept 15 (UNI) Bharti Enterprises, the country's leading business conglomerate, today said global financial services firm Lehman Brothers' collapse and acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America will not impact the Indian market.

''We do not see any impact of Lehman and Merrill Lynch's episodes on India...the Indian growth story is quite intact,'' Bharti Enterprises Deputy Group CEO and Managing Director Akhil Gupta told reporters here.

Succumbing to the subprime mortgage crisis, Lehman Brothers has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after Barclays and Bank of America abandoned talks to buy the company.

Meanwhile, Bank of America has agreed to buy Merrill Lynch in an all-stock deal worth 50 billion dollars.

After the news indicating the deepening of global financial crisis, Sensex plunged. Besides, stocks also plummeted in Australia, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

There are several listed Indian companies like Era Infra, Fedders Lloyd, IFCI, Indo Asian, IOL Netcom, IVRCL, Ansal Housing, Champagne Indage, Spice Mobiles among others in which Lehman Brothers have invested.

Whether the stake in all these companies are in jeopardy or not and will these holdings be liquidated to raise funds, are matters of concern.

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