Indian companies should be allowed dual listing: HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh

MUMBA: Urging the government to open up the capital market further, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh today said dual listing of Indian equities abroad should be allowed to facilitate easy merger and acquisitions.

"There is a need to allow dual listing to facilitate M&As," Parekh said at an event here.

Also, the bourses should be allowed to be listed, to give an exit option to the foreign shareholders, he said.

"There are merits in allowing stock markets to list. If listing is not an option for exchanges, then there is need to provide exit mechanism for foreign shareholders in the bourses," he said.

Bimal Jalan committee's report on capital market reforms had recommended that bourses be not allowed to list. However, consultation with the market players and the regulator is on.

About investors' cold response to recent initial public offerings (IPOs), Parekh said the IPOs had not been priced reasonably.

"IPO market is tepid because IPOs leave nothing on the table for investors and investors have lost a lot of money in the primary market. So we need to get reasonably priced IPOs in the market space," Parekh said, adding that investment banks had become greedy in India.

Parekh also raised concerns about Eurozone crisis. "It is to be seen how European governments will bail Greece out, as the debt crisis in Greece, Spain and Italy is very serious in nature," he added.