February 08, 2014

Press Release No. 1

NSE Organizes Investor Week to Spread Awareness, Empower Market Participants

· Engages extensively with IT companies, MBA colleges, the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and member brokers to spread awareness on capital market

· Organises seminar with Council of Financial Planner and Karnataka Association of Mutual Fund Advisors on foreign exchange management and mutual funds

· To organize Investothon, a run for investor awareness on Sunday to encourage member brokers and dealers to build a healthy financial market by promoting the right values in investing

FEBRUARY 8, Bengaluru: India’s leading bourse the National Stock Exchange (NSE) organized a week-long investor awareness programme in Bengaluru, the Silicon Valley of India, to help people learn about the basics of stock market, financial planning and safe investing, and to encourage them to participate in the country’s capital market. The initiative will conclude with an investor run or “Investothon” on Sunday.

Since inception, NSE has made rigorous effort to reach out to people in various cities and empower them with information on market products, benefits of investing and how to invest safely. With its thriving information technology sector, Bengaluru has emerged as the fourth largest contributor to India’s gross domestic product, among India cities. Bengaluru’s fame as the top IT destination has attracted a vast, vibrant talent pool from across the country and it is NSE’s endeavour to educate them on principles of safe investing and encourage them to invest in productive assets.

Senior officials from the exchange held intensive engagement programmes with leading IT companies and MBA colleges including M.S.Ramaiah Institute of Management, Don Bosco Institute of Bio-Sciences & Management Studies and Sambhram Academy of Management Studies. The aim was to educate people on their rights and obligations in the market, the difference between investment and savings, and make them aware about the risk-return relationship.

Addressing the media, Mr. Ravi Varanasi, Chief Business Development, NSE, said, “NSE has been conducting investor initiatives to grow the investor base and instill financial discipline in the youth. Bengaluru has a large investor base and this initiative will encourage the people of this city to invest in productive assets to manage their money wisely.”

The sessions conducted by NSE officials educated market participants on various products including Nifty Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), in which an investor can buy one unit in just a little over Rs. 600 (depending on the current value of the index). These funds can be traded just like stocks; their NAV is available real time and have given good returns in the long term.

NSE officials also provided information on the different asset classes, new products that have been launched and the NSE EMERGE and the EMERGE ITP platforms, which will bring together SME’s and risk investors on the same platform to create a more active market for channelizing funds to start ups.

Since 1994, when NSE was set up, investor protection has been given the highest importance. In keeping with this line of thinking, NSE currently runs 11 Investor service centres in India, including one in Bengaluru, for grievance redressal and handling arbitration cases on investor complaints.

Mr. Varanasi will flag off Bengaluru’s first ever Investothon being organized on Sunday. Investothon is a run organized to bring the investing community together and encourage them to promote best practices in investing and build a healthy financial market.