NASDAQ celebrates India's Independence Day

NEW YORK: Indian tricolour fluttered in the backdrop, as Neelam Deo, the country's consul general here rung the closing bell at the world's largest stock exchange NASDAQ, which celebrated India's 62nd independence day on Friday.

This was the first time that a consul general has rung the closing bell at the stock market in a prestigious ceremony, which marks the recognition of a fast growing Indian economy.

Outside the exchange, the huge electronic board, which overlooks the historic Times Square and displays quotations during the day was also lighted in saffron, white and green colours, with the words "India Independence Day".

With approximately 3,200 companies, NASDAQ lists more companies and has more trading volume per day than any other stock exchange in the world.

It lists six Indian companies with a combined market cap of almost USD 35 billion. These include Ex1Service, Rediff.com, Sify Technologies, Syntel Inc, Cognizant Technology Solutions and Infosys Technologies.

Infosys and Cognizant are members of the NASDAQ 100 Index, which is one of the most prestigious and widely followed indices in the world.

Additionally, Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), India's first power exchange for trading of electricity, regulated by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), uses NASDAQ OMX and the FTIL as the primary contractors for the new exchange's energy trading solution.