Tuesday November 24, 12:40 PM

BSE CEO says preparing for listing

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Bombay Stock Exchange (^BSESN : 16028.13 -14.05) 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 percent 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 (^NSEI : 4778.7 -13.95) (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.

(For other stories from the Reuters India Investment Summit, click http://in.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/summit)

(For more news on Reuters Money visit http://www.reutersmoney.in)

(Reporting by Nishant Kumar and Jeanette Rodrigues; Editing by Ian Geoghegan and Ranjit Gangadharan)