January 19, 2014

Press Release No. 1

NSE creates awareness among Vadodara investors through Investor Initiatives and Investothon

January 19, VADODARA: India’s leading bourse the National Stock Exchange (NSE) organized an investor run or Investothon in Vadodara for the first time, to engage with investors in the city as well as the large member broking community, to encourage best practices in investing and a healthy financial market. It is a symbolic run for India, for its economy, and most importantly for its citizens who are building and living the India story every day.

NSE has been rigorously promoting investor awareness in different Indian cities to empower people with information on market products, benefits of investing and on safe investing. This week the focus has been on Vadodara, which has often been called the gateway to the golden quadrilateral because the city is on the major rail and road arteries which link Mumbai with Delhi and Mumbai with Ahmedabad. Good connectivity has also contributed to making Vadodara an industrial and commercial hub, making it ideal for NSE to conduct an investor week and investor run.

An enthusiastic crowd of more than 4,600 people participated in the Investothon on the chilly Sunday morning. The run was held at the Navlakhi Ground, on the Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, a venue often used for cultural festivals and political rallies. The three main races were a competitive 4.5 kilometer run called the “Nifty Run”, a three kilometer run called the “Bull Run” and a non-competitive 4.5 kilometer run called the “Power Run”.

A large number of Corporates, members, dealers and investors participated in the Investothon. The runs were flagged-off by Mr. Ravi Varanasi, Chief Business Development, National Stock Exchange, Mr. Kinjal Medh, Head Marketing NSE, Mr. Alok Joshi, Executive Editor, CNBC AWAAZ and Mrs. Tejal Amin, Director Jyoti Ltd & Chairperson, Vadodara Marathon Committee.

Prizes were given away to the high five team, the most enthusiastic team and the most shareholders team.

NSE had started the investor run in 2011, to boost investor confidence and bring together India's biggest and more revered wealth creators on a common platform.

NSE’s Chief Business development Mr. Ravi Varanasi said, “All these initiatives in Vadodara will not only empower investors and make them more financially literate, but also encourage them to participate in the financial markets and contribute to the India growth story.”

Since 2011, 24 investor runs have been held in many cities, including the metros, and cities like Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Indore. A large number of people have participated in this movement and today’s run in Vadodara also saw large crowds.

NSE was set up two decades ago and investor interest has been given very high importance by the exchange and its officials. In keeping with this line of thinking NSE currently runs 11 Investor service centres in India, including at Ahmedabad, for grievance redressal and handling arbitration cases on investor complaints.

Earlier in the week, senior exchange officials conducted extensive engagement programs with corporates, students at the Maharaja Sayaji University, with the local chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, students and teachers at schools, the Rotary Club and member brokers. This was done to empower market participants with information on their rights and obligations in the market, the importance of investing according to an investor’s risk appetite and to spread awareness on market products.

Market participants were informed about products like 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 give good returns in the long term.

NSE officials also educated MS university students on subjects like inflation, risk, investment versus savings, securities market and the different asset classes in the exchange market. As a part of its outreach program in schools, officials also interacted with students and teachers from schools in the city, on financial planning and subjects like investment, savings, inflation and risk. Dictionaries were also distributed to students from schools associated with the Mahavir International - Mahavir Foundation Trust, Vadodara.