The Hindu Business Line : SEBI for competition among stock exchanges

Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of External Affairs, releasing of study on “Economic Diplomacy-India’s Strategy for the Coming New Economic World Order" along with (left to right) Mr C.B. Bhave, Chairman, SEBI, Mr D.S. Rawat, Secretary-General, Assocham, and Mr Venugopal N. Dhoot, President, on the second day of 87th AGM of Assocham in the Capital on Tuesday. —

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New Delhi, June 3 The Securities and Exchange Board of India on Tuesday made it clear that it has no intention of forcing any merger or consolidation between the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange, stating that it wants to promote competition among bourses in the country.

“We as regulator do not want to force single exchange on the market. As long as competition is possible, it should be there. We have no intention of forcing BSE or NSE to merge. It is good for the market that both exist. It is not in our interest to consciously argue for a single exchange in the country,” Mr C.B. Bhave, SEBI Chairman, said here on Tuesday.

Mr Bhave was responding to a query at Assocham’s AGM on whether he favoured consolidation among bourses in India as seen in certain parts of the world.

“If you look around the world, there is a divergent trend. On one hand, there is unification of exchanges. At the same time, as exchanges get corporatised and de-mutualised, we find in developed jurisdictions, there are more applications for setting up exchanges. With technology, it is easier to set up an exchange. We don’t know whether exchanges are going to converge or we are going to have more exchanges. We as regulator do not want to force single exchange on the market. As long as competition is possible, it should be there,” he said. Mr Bhave said that it was not in the interest of the country to consciously argue for a single exchange. “We should try to promote competition,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Bhave told pressperons that there was no proposal to change the policy stance of October 2007 on participatory notes (PNs) issuance by foreign institutional investors (FIIs). “SEBI has already notified the regulations that arose out of October decisions. That is where SEBI is today. There is no change in that,” Mr Bhave said.

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