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Buddhadeb stresses on reviving Calcutta Exchange

— PHOTO: SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH

MOMENTOUS OCCASION: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (left) is being felicitated by Chairman Emeritus, RPG Group, R. P. Goenka in Kolkata on Tuesday. Udayan Bose (right), Chairman of the Exchange, looks on.

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has stressed on the need to revive the Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) saying that it was an important component of the State’s industrial development.

Inaugurating the centenary celebrations of the CSE (which is the second oldest stock exchange in the country after the Bombay Stock Exchange), he said: “We are trying to speed up industrialisation as fast as possible. We badly need the revival of the Calcutta Stock Exchange which is an important component of the industrial development of the State”, he said. The chief minister also released a book “Down Lyons Range ” on the occasion. Lyons Range is where the heritage building of the CSE is located in the central business district.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said that the State was emphasising on the manufacturing sector and these companies needed help from the CSE and banks for their further growth.

He said although the CSE was the third largest stock exchange even in the Nineties, it started facing many problems a few years later and got into doldrums from the early years of this century and was virtually closed down. “We discussed it in the government but for many years could not help matter improve”.

He said with the joint initiative of the State government and the departments of industry and commerce and industrial relations, an effort was made to contact all stakeholders to help revive the bourse.

He mentioned the names of quite a few corporates, including Birla companies such as Kesoram and Texmaco, Patton, and Emami which helped revive the exchange along with the Bombay Stock Exchange.

“We could thus revive the exchange”, he said. He said eastern region companies were really suffering due to the absence of the Calcutta Stock Exchange.

CSE, which got into problems due to many reasons, including payment and settlement issues, has now successfully completed its divestment process. New shareholders such as Kesoram Industries, Texmaco, Patton Industries, Emami, and State government’s outfits like the West Bengal Infrastructure Development Corporation and the Bombay Stock Exchange now hold 52 per cent of the equity in CSE.

Sanjay Budhia, convenor of the Calcutta Stock Exchange, said that the opening of the Calcutta Stock Exchange could not have come at a better time when West Bengal is on the verge of industrial resurgency.

Many overseas outfits were now keen to acquire a stake in the CSE.

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