New Delhi: NSE launched operations of its new trading platform for SMEs, Emerge, with the first listing in this segment and said some more companies would follow.

The platform was launched by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, along with Sebi Chairman U K Sinha, with the listing of Thejo Engineering - the first company to get listed in NSE's Emerge segment.

Talking to reporters after the launch, NSE Managing Director Ravi Narain said that the exchange has been very careful in brining in only good-quality companies on the platform and there was "quite a decent number of companies" interested in getting listed.

He, however, did not divulge the exact number of the companies that NSE expects on the Emerge platform.

"NSE would provide all the required hand-holding to the companies interested in getting listed on Emerge," NSE's Joint Managing Director Chitra Ramkrishna said.

Narain said the turnover was expected to remain modest on the platform initially and it was not driven by a revenue-earning model.

However, the platform would help in developing the ecosystem and provide the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) a much-needed avenue to raise capital from the equity market.

"At times, it is difficult for these small companies to get credit, but here we are talking about helping them get the equity risk capital," he said.

Narain, however, said that the Emerge platform was very different from London Stock Exchange's AIM platform, as there have been no relaxations in regulatory framework for such segments in India.

Asked about the competition from BSE, whose SME platform has already got seven listed companies, Narain said that the NSE would bring in innovation to its model.

"Beyond the capital market Sebi's requirements, we have added two more things - voluntary rating and voluntary due diligence - for the companies desiring to get listed on Emerge," he said.

Ramkrishna said, meanwhile, that the exchange would also put out research reports about the Emerge-listed companies on its website for the benefit of the investors.

The platform would seek to safeguard the interest of the companies, investors as well as market intermediaries, she said.

Companies would get the option for trading in continuous market, or through call-auction mechanism.