Published On : Fri, Oct 30th, 2015

Towards better capital markets solutions for SME financing : Manoj Kumar

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VIA
Nagpur:
Vidarbha Industries Association in association with Securities Exchange Board of India and National Stock Exchange organized a programme on “SME –Funding –Role of Capital markets” at VIA Hall this evening.

The programme organized by the Economic and Finance Forum of VIA receive overwhelming response and the auditorium was jam packed.

The event was inaugurated by Manoj Kumar, Chief General Manager, SEBI. Addressing the gathering  he said that  availability of adequate capital for growth is one of the key factors required to enable the SMEs  to exploit available opportunities and grow exponentially. This was the basis for introducing SME platform. A new chapter was added to the ICDR to define the regulations applicable to the SME platforms. According to regulations, companies with post-issue paid up capital (face value) up to Rs.25 crore can raise funds and list on the SME Platform.  The idea was that the exchange should complement the existing risk investors in the country, in addition to creating alternative sources of capital for the SMEs. Further, he added that that SEBI looks forward to stakeholder feedback in designing progressive regulations and invited one and all for constructive feedback on regulations.

Vikas Jain, Joint Director of Industries, Nagpur Division  in his address said  that  time has now come for the SMEs to take the leap of faith from where they are to where they want to be. Alternative financing such as SME listing should be seriously considered by the SMEs as a means to reach to their true potential and compete globally. This will enable the ‘Make in India’ movement.

Ravi Varanasi, Chief- Business development, NSE, said  that SME sector is the growth engine of the Indian economy.  Adequate availability of capital for innovation and high growth is a key requirement of the SMEs of the country. He added that NSE was  confident that EMERGE will enable a large number of such companies to raise capital efficiently from risk investors. Currently ten companies have been listed with an approximate fund raising of Rs. 150 crore and many more are in pipeline at various IPO stage. The exchange is also encouraging credible institutions to become nominated investors, to support the merchant bankers in underwriting the issue and subsequently ensuring market making for the company. Apart from NSE’s own admission process, a third party diligence is also done for the companies to inspire investor confidence.

Earlier, Varun Parakh, Partner, V. K. SURANA & Co, introductory remarks said that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the mainstay of most economies, particularly in terms of employment generation and their impact on overall development. Although their individual impact is small, the cumulative impact is highly significant. In most economies, SMEs play a significant role towards their sustainable development. In India, SMEs are the most dynamic and their contribution to the growth of new industries is phenomenal. They have created a highly important component from a regional development side and as a means to promote balanced and equitable growth all over the country.

VIA (1)
SME’s face many challenges, including raising productive capital for their growth. While they have, for decades depended on banking channels, to raise money, there are limitations on how much they can tap the banking sector for their growth. NSE platform EMERGE is poised to play an important role in facilitating capital raising by SMEs. Exchange along with intermediaries completely handholds these small enterprises, from the time they show an intent to list, right up to the stage of listing, he said.