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Calcutta, April 3: The Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) has expressed its intent to list on the bourses following a Sebi ruling yesterday that allowed bourses to offer its shares to the public.
“Definitely we are going to list ourselves,” said Sanjay Budhia, a shareholder director on the CSE board.
“The CSE meets most of the principal criteria prescribed by Sebi for listing,” he said.
At its board meeting on Monday, Sebi approved the new rules for listing of domestic bourses. Stock exchanges keen on listing must have a net worth of at least Rs 100 crore, a board comprising 50 per cent public interest directors and a minimum annual turnover of Rs 1,000 crore.
“The Calcutta Stock Exchange has a net worth (over 140 crore) much above the threshold prescribed by Sebi,” said Suresh Kumar Kaushik, a trading member director on the board.
The shareholders’ fund, including reserves and surpluses, of the bourse stood at Rs 182 crore at the end of March.
“The annual turnover on the CSE’s own platform has already crossed the Rs 10,000- crore-mark,” he added.
The memorandum of association (amended) of the stock exchange has a clause (65), which states that one of the objectives behind the formation of the company was to make issues and/or offer for sale of new or existing shares and securities of the company to the public and/or on a private placement basis and/or list the share or securities of the company on any exchanges, including on the Calcutta Stock Exchange.
However, the CSE, like its biggest shareholder the BSE, will have to amend its memorandum of association and the bylaws to comply with the listing norms.
The Sebi norms stipulate that the bourse that wants to get itself listed should have at least 50 per cent directors on its board representing public interest and there should not be any trading member director.
At present, the CSE’s board comprises 13 members of which three are public interest directors and another three are trading member directors. The remaining seven directors represent shareholders’ interest.
Share trading in Calcutta can be traced back to the 1830s, while the brokers formed an association called the Calcutta Stock Exchange in 1908.