Indian PM tells Stock Exchanges
Educate villagers to invest in capital market
Mumbai, (PTI) - Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sunday called upon the stock exchanges to launch a massive education campaign to attract wealthy villagers to invest their savings in equity markets rather than in unproductive assets like gold.
Addressing the captains of industry and market participants on the 125th anniversary of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Vajpayee said stock markets cannot be a closed club of a small group of participants. We should spread the equity culture among more and more sections of our society.
He asked BSE to carry with it the small investors, who were always at a disadvantage because of lack of knowledge and inadequate access to trading facilities.
Investor confidence was particularly dented by scandals that broke out in the early 1990s, slowing down the progress of liberalisation besides weakening evolution of a national consensus over economic reforms, he said.
There were three basic imperatives for capital markets now, namely investor education, more effective regulations and the need for all participants in the market to develop a long-term perspective rather than go for quick and short-term gains, he said in the context of investors being duped by unscrupulous companies.
If the primary markets, which were an index of the country's multi-sectoral growth, had been sluggish for a long time, it was largely due to such non-serious and fraudulent companies, he said.
Stating that investment was primarily an act of faith, Vajpayee said the trust of genuine investors, especially the small ones, should not be allowed to be shaken by unscrupulous operators.
If rigging elections and cricket matches is bad, rigging of the stock markets is equally bad, he said.
While I congratulate the Reserve Bank of India and the SEBI for the good work they have done so far, I believe that there is an urgent need to further strengthen the regulatory environment, he said.
Similarly, there was a need for stock exchanges (SES) to tighten their internal management, and for companies and business associations to follow good corporate governance norms of self-regulation and peer watch, he added.
I will like BSE to benchmark against the best bourses in the world in the use of technology, in sophistication of research and analysis and in quality of service, he said.
Referring to Indian exchanges following the movements of US markets, the Prime Minister said, I sometimes wonder, should the sensitive index of our SES dance mainly to the tune of distant bourses.
The Indian economy should also reflect the country's new nuclear status and self-confidence by achieving faster economic growth, he said, adding that this required a higher level of resource mobilisation, where SES played a critical role.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
lanka.net |
