'10k Cr Start-up Fund to Help Boost BSE SME Platform'


MUMBAI: The BSE has said the 10,000-crore venture capital fund for start-ups and MSMEs announced in the Budget will help boost its SME platform as it expects more small companies to approach it to raise capital.

“We are looking at more and more SMEs to get listed on BSE SME Platform to raise funds and list themselves,” BSE Managing Director and Chief Executive Ashishkumar Chauhan told PTI on the sidelines of an ICSI event.

At present, there are 61 SMEs listed on BSE’s dedicated SME platform, which was launched in March, 2012. Of these, 20 are traded on the platform and their combined market capitalization stood at Rs 7,448.25 crore as of July 11.

Dedicated platform for SMEs

The BSE was the first bourse to launch a dedicated platform for SMEs and start-ups in March 2012 after SEBI allowed small companies to get listed without an IPO. It launched an institutional trading platform for this in November 2013. The NSE followed suit in September in the same year when its platform Emerge went live.

This development came after the Budget 2012 had announced that start-ups and SMEs could get listed on the bourses without bringing IPO.

Consequently, capital markets regulator SEBI decided to permit the listing without IPO and trading of specified securities of SMEs, including start-up companies, on institutional trading platform on the exchanges.

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Source: PTI