Explained further by Infosys Technologies Ltd senior vice-president, finance, Mohandas Pai, the rationale is that if a profit-making company is to be listed on US bourses, it will undergo most strict scrutiny in terms of PSP or predictability, sustainability and profitability. "If you are loss making, then you are given a chance to prove yourself," Pai said.

Speaking on mergers and acquisitions, Mohandas Pai said that foreign investors are willing to take risks, provided that a company has a sound revenue model with multiple revenue streams.

"The US markets in particular believe in high growth and not in fundamentals like dividend or earning per share. The investors have a huge appetite for risk taking and any company transparent in policies, will be given every chance. Sustain a growth rate of 30-40 per cent every year and you are safe," the Infosys man said.

He added that developing a good customer base, sound mergers and acquisitions and a brand equity are essentials for listing. "You have to compel a benchmark and find options for growth," Pai said. Explaining why should companies list in US, Pai said that listing in the US increases brand equity and also brings dollars. "You can provide dollar denominated employee stock options to your staff, you can have global currency for acquisitions and more importantly, US has the biggest capital market in the world,".

On the strategy for listing, Pai said that building a global brand and being in the high technology area is very important. "You should also develop a clear de-risking strategy since investors will have none of it if your company fails," he explained. He went on to add that while looking at M&A, it is important to remember that organic growth need not translate into high growth. So identifying the right companies with the right technologies is important.

He was quick to point out that the only reason why Infosys did not acquire any companies in the past was more a function of tough government policies in this regard.

"We want to acquire companies with shareholders consent and not the government's," he said.

Digital India managing director Som Mittal said that acquisitions and mergers have to be decided very carefully. "Although the year started with a $190 billion takeover in the US, India is yet to see such largescale moves," he said.

Explaining the reasons, he said that a Harward study has shown that out 53 big mergers last year, only 9 were highly succesful, 11 completely failed while the rest were unsatisfactory.

"Once away from the limelight, the managers found out that the intrinsic value, which they imagined was not there. IT mergers, especially that of two listed companies, are even more complex in nature," he felt.

He explained the presence of an `ego' factor in some of the mergers and said that some times, big companies felt the need for acquisitions or mergers just to be in the news. Mergers and acquisitions succeed as long as they are executed precisely and with great speed. "Otherwise acquiring will be easy but owning will become hard," Mittal concluded.