Global investors, Indian startups pressure Modi to list overseas Reuters

By Aditya Kalra and Abhirup Roy

New Delhi (Reuters)-According to a letter seen by Reuters, major investors including Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed called on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to formulate rules to allow companies to list overseas Better access to capital.

India allowed companies to list directly on foreign exchange exchanges https://reut.rs/376I7cW in September, such as the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, but the government has not announced the rules needed to manage such listings.

About 22 investors and top Indian startups (such as food delivery app Swiggy and online tutoring company Byju’s) called it an “unfinished reform agenda” and wrote to Modi urging him to speed up policy implementation.

They stated in their July 29 letter: “Currently, unlisted companies cannot use the international market to raise funds… This is an obstacle to the growth ambitions of Indian start-ups.”

Swiggy and Sequoia declined to comment. Other entities and Modi’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new policy is seen as a boost to the digital arm of the Indian unicorn start-up and conglomerate Reliance, valued at more than US$1 billion, which is looking at it after raising more than US$20 billion from investors last year Yu is listed in the United States.

But when many people chose to list in India, this letter came.

Zomato, an Indian food delivery company backed by China Ant Group, makes its debut https://www.reuters.com/technology/ant-backed-zomato-jumps-53-above-offer-price-india-market-debut-2021-07- 23 Recently listed on the Indian Exchange, the company is valued at 13 billion U.S. dollars, and other companies, including the ride-hailing company Ola backed by SoftBank, are also focusing on local listings.

“Even if some companies are preparing to list in India, many other companies are keen to evaluate international listing options,” the letter said, emphasizing that the market value of companies in other markets such as the United States is much larger than that in India.

The London Stock Exchange pays close attention to India’s policy changes and told Reuters last year https://www.reuters.com/article/india-stocks-lse-listing-idINKBN26U1BZ It has been negotiating with several Indian technology companies on overseas matters List. Such listings will provide opportunities for some of the world’s leading exchanges to compete for fast-growing startups in India.

However, the Indian government has been worried that overseas listings may mean that companies seeking higher valuations through access to a wider group of investors will choose to only list overseas, thus damaging the prospects of the Indian market.

This group of investors and startups told Modi that such concerns are “unfounded” and that overseas listings will increase foreign investors’ interest in Indian startups.