NSE inks pact with West Bengal for MSME fund raising

Kolkata, Aug 22 (KNN) With an objective of raising MSME funds through equity, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between National Stock Exchange (NSE) and MSME and textiles department of West Bengal government.

The initiative has been taken to engage the NSE with all the industry associations and chamber bodies, so that large number of SMEs in West Bengal can be encouraged to explore alternate sources of funding and help list them on Emerge platform of NSE.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Debarati Dutta Gupta, Special Secretary of the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) Department, and the stock exchange's Regional Head Tojo Banerjee at the West Bengal State MSME conclave.

The main objective of this initiative is to bring 100 SMEs from West Bengal on NSE Emerge platform by 2020.

NSE Emerge has a total of 168 SMEs, listed on the platform with total capital raise of Rs 2,597 crore.

Currently, six companies from varied industries in the state are listed on NSE Emerge platform with total funds raised standing approximately at Rs 44 crore, according to NSE statement.

Also, approximately 15 new companies from West Bengal plan to get listed on NSE Emerge platform over the next one year, it added.