January 14, 2013

Press Release No. 1

NSE launches financial literacy initiative 'Jagruti' in Bhagalpur, in partnership with India Post

India’s leading stock exchange, the National Stock exchange (NSE) has partnered with India Post of the Government of India, to start a financial literacy initiative at fifty post offices in the country. After starting the first initiative in Bihar at Muzaffarpur earlier this month, today, NSE launched this campaign in the prominent town of Bhagalpur. Later in the month, the initiative would also be extended to Sasaram.

At Bhagalpur, the second largest city in Bihar after Patna, the alliance between the two behemoths, NSE and India Post, involves the setting up of a large sized screen at the head post office on the MG Road. The screen will keep flashing data on NSE’s benchmark index, Nifty 50, data on stocks and other indices, advice on investing wisely as well as information on products of India Post. The screen at the head post office, near the National highway 80, was inaugurated by senior officials from NSE and India post on Monday, the 14^th of January.

Bhagalpur is popularly called the Silk city of India, because of its unique silk called tussar silk, a delight for women shoppers, because it is used to weave tussar silk sarees. It is almost a household tradition to weave silk and entire clans have been involved in silk weaving for more than 200 years. The silk cottage industry has made Bhagalpur a big trading hub, because silk products are traded, through good rail connectivity to different parts of India and also exported abroad.

Bhagalpur is also known for its industrial belts like the NTPC Kahalgaon and the Barari industrial Area, which have contributed to the economic growth of this area.

Joint MD of NSE, Ms. Chitra Ramkrishna said, “India Post has a very large reach, through which we aim to increase financial literacy in the tier two and tier three cities of India.

We want to focus on different cities in Bihar, to educate people to use their idle savings more effectively, by channelizing them into productive assets. This educational drive will help the people of Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur and Sasaram to grow their savings and expand their enterprises. ‘’

The screen at the Bhagalpur post office will carry information on the do’s and don’ts of trading, for instance ‘don’t share your trading password with anyone’, it is not mandatory to give a power of attorney to your broker and so on. The screen will also convey information on products for retail investors like Gold exchange traded funds and Nifty exchange traded funds, cost effective and transparent options to invest in gold and NSE’s benchmark index, Nifty 50.

In fact first time investors, who have an annual income of 10 lakhs, can invest 50,000 and get tax benefits, by investing in permitted securities like Nifty exchange traded funds, under the new government scheme called the Rajiv Gandhi equity savings scheme.

The screen will also carry information on products of India Post, like Online money transfers, Electronic money orders, Speed post, Savings certificates, Postal life insurance and Logistics solutions for Corporates.

The alliance with India Post comes after a series of steps by NSE to increase financial literacy. NSE has a tie up with more than 90 colleges in different parts of the country, to conduct short duration courses on the capital markets called the NSE Certified Capital Market Professional or the NCCMP. In Bihar, the NCCMP courses are being taught at the Catalyst Institute of Management in Patna.

The exchange has also tied up with prominent universities for MBA and BBA (Bachelors in Business Administration) courses, including Punjabi university in Patiala, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University at Delhi and the Maharishi Dayanand University in Rohtak. In another recent partnership, NSE has joined hands with IIM Shillong, to start a two year post graduate course in financial markets, the first to be started by an IIM.

Press Release No. 2

NSE launches financial literacy initiative ‘Jagruti' in Bilaspur, in partnership with India Post

India’s leading stock exchange, the National Stock exchange (NSE) has partnered with India Post of the Government of India, to start a financial literacy initiative at fifty post offices in the country. On the 14^th of January, the first initiative in Chhattisgarh, was kick started from Bilaspur, also popularly called the dhaan ka katora, because it is one of the largest rice producing belts of India. Two days later, a similar initiative is being launched at Korba, the power capital of the State.

At Bilaspur, the alliance between the two behemoths, NSE and India Post, involves the setting up of a large sized screen at the Head post office, on the busy Nehru Chowk Road in Tilaknagar. The screen will keep flashing data on NSE’s benchmark index, Nifty 50, data on stocks and other indices, advice on investing wisely as well as information on products of India Post. The screen was inaugurated by senior officials from NSE and India post on the 14th of January.

The head post office is situated in a crowded area and has high footfalls, of more than 1200 people every day.

Bilaspur is the headquarters of the South Eastern Coalfields, the largest and most profitable subsidiary of Coal India. Coal mining in this belt has contributed significantly to the economic development of this region, because coal is ferried to other parts of the country from Bilaspur. Coal mining has also led to other economic multipliers, as coal ferrying has made the Bilaspur railway zone, the most profitable zone of the Indian Railways.

The trade of paddy from the rice bowl as well as the presence of large cement Industries, has also contributed to the city’s economic health.

Joint MD of NSE, Ms. Chitra Ramkrishna said, “India Post has a very large reach, through which we aim to increase financial literacy in the tier two and tier three cities of India.

We want to focus on different cities in Chhattisgarh, to educate people to use their idle savings and channelize them into productive assets. We are confident that this educational drive will help the people of Bilaspur and Korba to grow their savings and expand their enterprises.”

The screen at the Bilaspur post office will carry information on the do’s and don’ts of trading, for instance ‘don’t share your trading password with anyone’, it is not mandatory to give a power of attorney to your broker and so on. The screen will also convey information on products for retail investors like Gold exchange traded funds and Nifty exchange traded funds, cost effective and transparent options to invest in gold and NSE’s benchmark index, Nifty 50.

The alliance with India Post comes after a series of steps by NSE to increase financial literacy. NSE has a tie up with more than 90 colleges in different parts of the country, to conduct short duration courses on the capital markets called the NSE Certified Capital Market Professional or the NCCMP. In Chhattisgarh, these courses are being taught at the Disha Institute of Management and Technology at Raipur, Shri Shankaracharya Institute of Professional Management & Technology, Raipur and Bhilai Institute of Technology in Durg.