BSE hopes to kickstart SME exchange in 2 months

The country's premier bourse the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) is hopeful of launching its dedicated small-and-medium-enterprises (SME) exchange in the next two months, a senior official has said.

"We have got an in-principle approval from the market regulator SEBI late May and are expecting the final approval anytime now and hope to get the exchange running in the next two months. We have the systems in place and are ready for launch," BSE deputy chief executive Ashish Kumar Chauhan told PTI in Mumbai today.

On May 25, SEBI had given in-principle nod to the Asia's older bourse's proposal to launch a dedicated SME platform.

Rival National Stock Exchange (NSE) and privately-promoted MCX SX, had also applied for Sebi permission to launch SME exchanges last June.

With a view to let smaller firms access equity capital without the existing cumbersome process, the SEBI had last year come out with guidelines for dedicated SEM exchanges.

As per the guidelines, small companies can do away with the practice of sending full annual reports and reporting quarterly numbers, considering their lean nature.