"We want top domestic companies to offer shares to the Indian public while they offer shares to overseas investors," Sebi chairman DR Mehta said, adding that he had made recommendations to Government in this direction as part of measures to revive the domestic primary market.

Many companies, including Satyam Infoway, HDFC Bank, MTNL and HCL Technologies, have already announced plans to list their shares on the American stock markets through ADRs.

Maintaining that the domestic market had not seen quality public issues for a long time, Mehta said this condition would act as a boon to the fledgling primary market.

"There is no reason to deprive local public of good issues. Even public-sector companies are shying away from offering shares to theretail public," he said.

Only companies which adhere to high standards of transparency and corporate governance were in a position to sell shares successfully at the American markets.

Besides, these companies have to follow the stricter norms of the US market regulator Securities Exchange Commission.

Asked about the government response to the proposal, Mehta said he was hopeful that the Centre would favourably consider the proposal as current plight of the capital market was due to the low quality of issues.

Domestic investors have become more discerning and have learnt lessons from the past when many corporates fixed their shares highly to take investors for a ride, he said.

Mehta said there was no reason to believe that quality issues would not be picked up by local investors.

The Sebi chairman said primary market was also looking up compared to that of the last year following an upward trend in the secondary stock market.