BSE has trimmed down the annual listing fee by 25 percent on its BSE SME platform to support and uplift small and medium enterprises from the economic challenges faced due to COVID pandemic, for the fiscal year 2021. They have around 322 companies listed on their SME platform. This rebate would encourage more startups and small businesses to get their companies listed and also help with their revival.
The current rate of listing fee is Rs 25,000 or 0.01% of the full market capitalization of the company, whichever is higher. The calculation of market capitalization will be the closing price on March 31 or the last trading day of that financial year. The revised fee structure will apply to existing, as well as all-new firms hoping to get listed on the platform, BSE said in a statement. The fee rebate was declared as a result of various fiscal measures declared by the Centre to support MSME sector like – declaration of Rs 3lakh crore stimulus package and Rs 50,000 crore equity infusion through fund of funds, thus encouraging more and more business units to list on the main board of stock exchanges. The fund of funds will set up a Rs 10,000 crore corpus and operate through a mother fund and daughter fund framework, thus enhancing MSMEs lucrativeness.
‘MSMEs are considered as the backbone of the Indian economy and in times of distress, it is our responsibility to support them. We hope that the measures are taken, along with the new bold steps taken by the government will help in the revival of SMEs and also encourage thousands of SMEs to go for listing’, said Ajay Thakur, head of BSE SME and Startups.
Similarly, NSE has also announced a 25% cut on listing fees, but only for existing companies. NSE has around 209 companies listed on its SME platform, which was launched in 2012. An NSE release cited that SMEs are profoundly affected by the unforeseen adversities and pandemic. SMEs being the severely affected segment, having faced some major setbacks and would need more time, resources, and expertise to evolve from it. NSE has committed to support government policies and provide assistance to revive potential business units to revitalize the economy.
