The SMEs should make use of the opportunities emerging in the capital markets to get funds for their needs and for greater visibility in the market, according to S.V Muralidhar Rao, Executive Director of SEBI.
He was speaking at an awareness programme organised by the NSE in association with Andhra Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation on December 15. He said a separate platform had been created in the exchanges for SMEs and they should get listed on them. The SEBI had also eased the regulatory framework for SMEs and, therefore, “it is a great opportunity for SMEs to get themselves listed and go for IPOs.”
He said any company with capital less than Rs. 10 crore could get listed as an SME and companies in the range of Rs. 10 crore to Rs. 25 crore would have the option of getting listed as SMEs or big companies. He said SMEs could also later migrate to the main board of an exchange from the SME platform, if their capital exceeds Rs. 25 crore or even if it is in the range of Rs. 10 crore to Rs. 25 crore.
NSE Chief Business Development Ravi Varanasi said, 31 companies had been listed on the SME segment in the exchange and 11 of them had come up with IPOs. He said the IPOs of SMEs would be fully underwritten and, therefore, there was no cause for worry. The SEBI had also eased the compliance norms for the SMEs, he added.
Source : Business Line
