At present there is a lull in the primary market, which had witnessed a slew of issues a few months ago. What are the reasons?
Yes, it is true that in the last few months, poor performance of the stock market, especially the BSE Sensex, has led to `sluggishness' in the primary market. These days there are very few IPOs (initial public offers) coming up in the market compared with April-June 2000 when many issues hit the market. During that period, there was a large number of investors with the infotech craze and intention of making a quick buck. Incidentally, their wishes did not materialise thanks to poor showing by these stocks in the following months.

When we talk of the performance of the market one thing we have to keep in mind is that no development in the capital market takes place in isolation.

It is always in relation to market sentiments - positive or negative. Historically too, we have time-tested experience that whenever the secondary market was doing well the primary market reciprocated by becoming very active. So, this sluggishness has to be understood in that perspective.

Are there any other reasons for the phenomenon?
There are various factors we need to take into consideration. Today, a large number of investors are loosing confidence on the market as they have lost their money in the market. Some of the existing stocks look very attractive to the investors even now, but they don't want to take any risk by investing in unknown companies. Another reason could be that unlike earlier, now there are many avenues for promoters to get funded by financial institutions.

At the beginning of the year some major market players predicted that the Sensex would cross the 6,000-point mark. Even as we are approaching the end of the year, there are no signs of this happening. What is your view on this?
Predictions are made in relation to space and time. If it was predicted the way it was, it was because at that point of time the economy looked good and the stock market had set a positive trend.

However, the mind that is bullish makes bullish predictions and the depressed mind makes bearish predictions. It was in that sense that some people might have predicted the Sensex crossing the 6,000-point mark. But contrary to their predictions the stock market has been seeing a downward trend. My feeling is that given the present market sentiment it is very difficult to imagine the Sensex touching the 6,000 mark in the near future.

Has the phenomenon of Sensex trailing the Nasdaq index any basis? How do you see this trend?
I don't see any reason for this parallelism, because we don't have as many technical scrips as they have on Nasdaq. This is not good for the Indian capital market. The nature of the BSE too is different from Nasdaq.

Hence this is not a healthy development.Is raising of the IPO size to Rs 250 crore for making a 10 per cent public offer appropriate? What would happen in this scenario to ICE companies who had Rs 50 crore IPO size as mandatory till recently?
The raising of the IPO size to Rs 250 crore, though it is just a proposal, is a welcome move. The market has grown enormously during the past few years and larger size in terms of money is always healthy and a larger float makes manipulation impossible in the market.

What difference will it make for the investor by the appointment of independent directors on a company's board?
The suggestion to have independent directors on a company's board is a step forward, because it will bring more transparency and corporate governance.

Ultimately, how efficient or effective an organisation is dependent upon the people who manage it. In India, for instance, the success story of some of the infotech companies who have been able to achieve a high level of market capitalisation can tell us as to how important transparency is for lifting investor confidence.

What should be the responsibilities of independent directors in case of hostile takeover?
Roles of independent directors, solicited or unsolicited, are a key on both ends in case of a hostile takeover. They must be able to give direction to the management. And also the independent directors of a target company must have responsibility towards the shareholders.