November 16, 2013

Press Release No. 1

NSE organizes “Investor Week” to spread awareness and to empower market participants

· As part of the initiative announces the launch of a dedicated Investor Services Center for Pune

· Organizes Puneâs first Investothon, a run for investor awareness

· Engages intensively with Corporates, the Pune police, colleges, the Institute of Chartered Accountants and member brokers to spread awareness regarding safe investing

· Disseminates information regarding various products and their benefits

National Stock Exchange (NSE), the leading stock exchange of the country has been rigorously promoting investor awareness, to empower market participants with information regarding safe investing, benefits of investing and products. As a part of this investor awareness initiative, NSE has organized an Investor Awareness Week specifically for Pune from 11th November to 17th November.

During the investor week, the senior members from the exchange have organized intensive engagement programmes with leading Corporates, the Pune police, colleges, the Institute of Chartered Accountants and member brokers. This is being done to empower market participants with information and perspective on their rights and obligations in the market, the importance of investing according to an investorâs risk appetite and to spread awareness on products like exchange traded funds.

One more major initiative was announced, to make it more convenient for Pune investors to file their complaints. A dedicated Investor Service Centre (ISC) was inaugurated at Pune, on the 16th of November, to offer the service of complaint resolution, where investors can register their complaints, instead of routing their grievances to the Mumbai regional office. This centre will also be in a position to handle arbitration cases. This will help in more speedy resolution of investor complaints for the citizens of Pune. Currently, there are ISC centers in eight cities, this is the 9th ISC in the country and NSE plans to open six more before the end of June 2014.

During the engagement programmes, NSE created awareness 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 and their NAV is available real time. NSE officials also educated college students on topics like inflation, risk, investment versus savings, securities market and the different asset classes in the exchange market.

“Historically, Pune has been a very important market for NSE and we have already taken up various initiatives in this city to spread awareness amongst the market participants as well as students across various Universities,” said Mr. Ravi Varanasi, Chief Business development, NSE who is in town specifically to flag off Puneâs first ever Investothon being organized tomorrow.

Investothon is a run organized to create awareness about safe investing and the importance of financial planning among different market participants. Twenty three such investor runs have been organized in different parts of the country, including metros and smaller cities like Indore, Bhubaneshwar and Kochi and more than 30,000 people have participated, for investor empowerment. Pune will witness its first ever Investothon tomorrow which will be inaugurated by Mr. Tapan Singhal, MD and CEO, Bajaj Allianz and attended by NSE’s Chief business development Mr. Ravi Varanasi and Head of NSE’s Western regional office, Ms Nisha Subhash.

Some Pune specific initiatives include a partnership with the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) for a one year post graduate Executive diploma in Financial Markets and a two year MBA in Financial markets as well as a three year BBA course in Financial markets at the Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University. In both the Institutes, students are being given theoretical training as well as practical training through simulated market software, specially designed by NSE. The faculty has also been trained by NSE officials.

“Pune ranks the sixth highest in per capita income across Indian cities and is often also referred to as the Oxford of the East, because it is a hub of educational institutions. Pune attracts talent from India well as from other South East Asia, Middle East and African countries. It is also home to many large auto and IT companies, thereby making it an ideal city to conduct these awareness initiatives,” added Mr. Varanasi.

Pune is also one of the cities, in which NSE’s ‘funancial quest’ initiative is being conducted. This initiative is being organized for school students of class 8 and 9, in nine schools, to make them more aware about the economy, savings, investments and the importance of financial planning. As a part of this initiative, students are being shown films of inspirational business leaders. Running a simulated business has also been included in the program, to give young students insight into the world of business.