Wooing Indian firms to list on Bursa

 

MUMBAI: Malaysia wants to attract more Indian bond issues, cross-border listings and fund management operations to the country, Securities Commission (SC) chairman Datuk Seri Zarinah Anwar says.

The regulator is also in talks with potential fund management firms here to operate in Malaysia, after giving an Islamic fund management licence to India's Reliance Capital Asset Management this week.

Reliance Capital is the biggest fund management firm in India.

"There are vast opportunities between the two countries in the fund management side. Both have very high savings rate and we can together explore how to facilitate those monies into the capital market," Zarinah told Malaysian reporters here yesterday.

Together with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the SC is organising a one-day capital market forum here, aimed at raising awareness of the regulatory structures and investment opportunities in both capital markets.

There are close to 40 senior representatives from various domestic and international organisations in the Malaysian delegation. These include the SC, Bank Negara Malaysia, Bursa Malaysia, Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia), Nomura Malaysia, Credit Suisse (M), Aseambankers Malaysia, and Nomura International (Hong Kong) Limited.

In addition, there are also Malaysian companies which already have active collaborations in India joining the delegation, such as IJM Corp, Maxis and Telekom Malaysia.

Indian joint ventures are already actively involved in Malaysia's palm oil refining, power, railways and civil construction and information technology sectors, while Malaysian infrastructure groups including IJM Corp and Scomi Engineering have major projects in this country.

However, the heavy cross-border investments between the two countries have yet to reflect in the financial sectors and capital market, Zarinah said.

She said Malaysia, with a diversified and deep capital market, can attract more Indian firms to raise funds in the country.

"There are opportunities for Indian issuers to access cost-effective financing through sukuk issuance in Malaysia, as well as for Indian intermediaries wishing to build an origination and distribution presence in the fast growing world sukuk market," she said.

Infrastructure is another potential area for cooperation, Zarinah said. Malaysia is leading a task force to promote infrastructure development financing within Asean. She said infrastructure projects have a high multiplier growth effect and can help offset the slack in global economic expansion following the current crisis.

"The task force is hoping to link the financing of infrastructure development with the development of capital markets as these projects can easily generate a large supply of shares and debts issues," she said.