BSE CEO Ramamurthy says Sky’s the limit for SMEs; to focus on equity derivatives first this year

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD & CEO, BSE, says that “in the current year, BSE has picked and chosen equity derivatives first, followed by equity and then currency options. SMEs would be a great focus for us as would mutual funds because of its socio-economic impact and the financial savings being converted into capital market savings impact into the market. Commodities and later interest rate derivatives will all follow.

Interest rate derivatives are a slightly complex product for India.”What is the scope for SMEs in the economy as well as the index? There are less than 500 listed SME companies on the BSE.Take the case of Rajasthan. What types of SMEs do they have? Marble, artificial jewellery, gemstones. How many SMEs operate there? Do we have even 1% of them with us on BSE? No.

Take the case of Tamil Nadu. We immediately think about Tiruppur. Is it all about Tamil Nadu? What about the Karur belt? What about the Trichy belt where you find so many OEMs making automobile parts, spare parts.

Have we touched any of them? Nothing. So, in my opinion, if you are talking about SMEs as providing a very huge share of employment, GDP growth, exports, 500 is not even a number to talk about.How large can it become in the next five years in your view?Sky’s the limit.5,000, 10,000 companies?Sky’s the limit. Many of these entrepreneurs only know their mother tongue.

India is a very big country in terms of the number of languages. We have restricted capability. The day we realise that we have these types of restrictions and capability limitations, we will outgrow them.

We will go to the local. We will talk in their language. We will explain to them in their language how it is going to be useful for them to be visible.