Delhi: To further the relief to small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the ongoing lockdown induced by COVID-19, the two stock exchanges of India have reduced the annual listing fee for these companies by 25 per cent.

A statement issued by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) said the revised listing fee structure will be applicable for the existing companies as well as for all the firms awaiting to be listed, while the National Stock Exchange (NSE) said the rebate is for all existing listed entities.

SMEs in the BSE are charged Rs 25,000/- or 0.01 per cent of full market capitalisation as annual fees, whereas NSE’s fee ranges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 45,000, depending on the company’s market capitalisation.

Out of 531 SMEs listed on Indian stock exchanges, 322 SMEs are on the BSE platform, while 209 listed entities are on the NSE platform. The exchanges announced the fee rebate after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced several measures to enhance Ease of Doing Business through IBC related measures concerning MSMEs.

“We hope that these measures along with the bold steps taken by the government will help in reviving the SMEs and also encourage thousands of SMEs to go for listing,” BSE statement cited Ajay Thakur, Head (BSE SME & Startups) as saying.

The 322 SMEs on the BSE platform have raised Rs 3,278.84 crores from the market, with total market capitalisation of Rs 15,865.39 crores, as on May 17, 2020. Reports suggest that 209 SMEs have raised more than Rs 3,200 crore on the NSE platform.