Addressing a press conference here, IFSE seceretary general designate Thomas Krantz said, not only the goverment but the stock market will also benefit through the disinvetment process.

He felt that there are a number of public sector companies having huge market captilisation that would add liqudity to the equity markets.

However Mr Krantz seemed unhappy with the number of companies listed on the domestic bourses. "8,000 listed companies would create more complication for the stock exchange officials as it becomes difficult to monitor such a large number."

In comparison the number of listed companies in other emerging markets like Mexico and South Korea are around 1,200 and in developed market like the UK and the US it is 2,000. But on Nasdaq has 5,000 companies in its list primarily due to the large amount of small companies going to the technology savvy bourse.

To overcome the solution of large number of listed companies, IFSE seceretary general designate said that small companies which are not actively traded and are loss makers should get de-listed by offering their shareholders a buy-back option. He also suggested a market making process for other companies at least once a week.

On the current state of the Indian stock exchanges, he said they have good trading infrastructure and this is indicated by increase in the trading volume in the last few years.