Nasdaq to open office in India

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 3. With India being the `flavour of the season,'' the top brass of the U.S.-based digital stock exchange, Nasdaq, is in the country to woo Indian companies to get listed there.

``India is a happening place and Nasdaq wants to part of it,''' the President of Nasdaq, Mr. Alfred R. Berkeley, told presspersons here today. With about 4,800 companies listed on Nasdaq, Mr. Berkeley feels that Indian companies have much to offer to the U.S. investors who are increasingly playing the stock markets, either through mutual funds or through direct purchase. ``We are currently into negotiations with over a dozen Indian companies and even if a third of them do get listed on the Nasdaq, we would be delighted,'' Mr. Berkeley added while announcing that Nasdaq would soon open an office in India. The location has not yet been finalised, but the representative office is expected to become operational before the year-end.

Though Mr. Berkeley did not divulge the names of the Indian companies involved in the negotiations, he indicated that Nasdaq was looking for the ``new economy'' shares, mostly of pharmaceuticals and software companies. ``At the moment, there is not much appetite for old economy shares such as those of manufacturing companies, but we are sure that the appetite would return soon,'' the Vice-President, Asia Pacific, for Nasdaq, Mr. Patrick Sutch, added. But for the next year or so, it would be the new economy shares, he felt.

Mr. Berkeley ruled out a trading office in India, saying that such transactions were not possible till full convertibility of the rupee was allowed in India. Instead, he announced that Nasdaq would be opening a trading office in Japan and Europe to allow investors there to go in for on-line trading.

``We will be experimenting in Japan and allow investors to trade on Nasdaq in their own place and in their own currencies. Trading will also be on during the working hours in Japan and Europe, which in effect would mean that Nasdaq would have trading for almost 22-23 hours a day,'' Mr. Berkeley said.

As of now, a number of regulatory agreements were yet to be firmed up after which only could trading take place. Initially, Nasdaq plans to allow trading in a few select internationally- known companies and once the system picked up would other companies be opened for trading in Japan and Europe.

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