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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, DEC 8: The chairman and chief executive officer of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) said on Monday he expected several Indian companies to list on the world’s biggest stock exchange over the next few years.
"Over the next five years, I expect as many as 50 Indian companies to tap the US capital market as a second source of capital (outside of India) and seek NYSE listing," Richard A Grasso told the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit.
"I look forward to a long partnership with your companies." Grasso said the number of non-US companies listing on the NYSE was increasing.
"The world economy is no longer interconnected, it is a singular one driven by technology. The world’s capital markets have never before been so interlinked. Non-US companies have grown (on NYSE) in the last eight years from fewer than 75 to 345," he said.
He cited the example of firms from Chile and the People’s Republic of China as examples of how quickly things can change. "Seven years ago, NYSE did not have a single company from Chile. In 1997, Chile accounts for the fourth largest concentration of non-US listings. There are also 17 companies from the People’s Republic of China," he said.
Despite this growth, Grasso said non-US companies remained under-represented on the NYSE. "Less than 16 per cent of the exposure of retail investors is to non-US securities," he said.
Grasso said some Indian firms had tapped private US capital, but this would change. "The Indian private sector will make public offerings in the US… and they will receive a broad reception," he said.
He singled out India’s information technology (IT) industry, saying the primary economic resource in the future would be knowledge driven by technology. "India has clearly become an IT capital," he said.
Dozens of companies from India, which launched an economic reform programme in 1991, have tapped the Euroissue market and listed their global depositary receipts (GDRs) in London or Luxembourg. But no Indian company has so far been listed in the US.
