BSE to tap capital mkts soon, rejigs strategy

The Bombay Stock Exchange is preparing for a listing and hopes to cut over-reliance on revenues from cash equity trading in two years, Madhu Kannan, the Chief Executive of Asia's oldest bourse, said on Tuesday.

"We are in a preparatory stage for a listing," he said at the Reuters India Investment Summit in Mumbai.

"We are getting internally ready but the timeframe is something difficult to predict."

Frankfurt-based Deutsche Boerse and Singapore Exchange each hold 5% stakes in the BSE.

The exchange, which earns almost all its revenue on the trading side from cash equity market, is looking to win over investors by offering better technology and products across asset classes, Kannan said.

The BSE, founded in 1875, has in recent years lost market share to its younger rival, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) which was founded in the early 1990s, and faces challenges from upstart exchanges.

The BSE has about 5,000 listed companies, while the NSE has about 1,400. But the daily average turnover on the NSE in 2009 has been triple that of the BSE.