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OTC, NSE to emerge as premier exchanges, says UTI chief

The Over The Counter Exchange of India or OTC and the National Stock Exchange of India or NSE would emerge as the Nasdaq and NYSE for Indian capital markets in the coming year, Unit Trust of India or UTI chairman P S Subramanyam said in Bombay today.

Speaking at the launch of OTCEI Securities Ltd or OSL, the 100 per cent wholly owned subsidiary of the OTCEI here, the UTI chairman said that emerging knowledge-based companies would be the main thrust of OTCEI in the near future to achieve its goal.

"There are several companies likely to tap the market through the venture capital route and the OTCEI would be the perfect platform for them," he said.

The UTI chief who is also chairman of the OTCEI praised the role played by NSE in the Indian capital markets by introducing several new features in the last six years of time, making the life easy for the market in the new millennium.

The OTCEI had formed a 100 per cent subsidiary to start broking operations as a member of NSE and launched trading with NSE managing director R H Patil and Subramanyam executing inaugural trade.

Subramanyam said that the OTCEI will achieve ten per cent of total turnover of the NSE in a year. OTCEI managing director Joseph Bosco also expressed confidence that the turnover which is hovering at Rs 200 million will reach Rs 5 billion in one year.

"The key idea behind launching OSL is to provide brokers and sub-brokers of smaller stock exchanges the access to trade on the capital market segment of larger bourses like NSE," said OSL chairman S Venkatraman.

The OTC has about 1,000 brokers who could avail of the facility to trade on NSE through OSL, as sub-brokers, subject to the conditions laid down by Securities and Exchange Board of India or SEBI.

Subramanyam further said that the launch of the new subsidiary would strengthen the capital markets in India and considerably widen the base of the broking community.

"The launch of OSL is the first in a sequence of strategic steps being taken by OTCEI. The exchange will soon be ready with its gem-- the unlisted securities segment. Along with OSL and its new initial public offering or IPO norms, OTCEI will be the most comprehensive stock exchange with the widest possible range of product offerings for the broking and the investor community in the country," Subramanyam added.

Speaking on the occasion, NSE managing director R H Patil said that the opportunities opened up by OSL would benefit both the investor community in India and the broking community.

''OSL facilitates access to both India's most liquid stocks on NSE and upcoming technology stocks on OTCEI, through a single point. The commonality of broking access to both exchange will make transactions for the investor community much more simple and convenient, OSL, which uses the latest possible technology, is a forerunner of the future," he added.

UNI

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