The Hindu Business Line : ‘Without SME, India’s growth story will not happen’

Chennai, Aug. 27 Is the Indian ‘fundamental’ story strong in the context of liquidity crisis? “Yes,” affirms Mr V.R. Srinivasan, CEO of Brics Securities. “Both large caps and mid-caps have nothing to fear about money. Perhaps costs may be marginally higher. But the availability is not a problem, at least for the time being,” he adds.

Mr Srinivasan, a chartered accountant, began his finance career in TVS (1981-1987). Prior to Brics Securities, he worked in Standard Chartered Bank (1987-1992, as functional head of merchant banking division), and Imperial Corporate Finance Ltd (1993-2001, as vice president of broking division and subsequently managing director of the company).

Excerpts from an e-mail interview

Will the market sentiments have their impact on the M&A (mergers and acquisitions) and PE (private equity) activity?

Not really. These are long-term business decisions. At the most valuations will get moderated.

Is this just the right time for unlisted small-cap companies to get their much-needed growth capital?

Given the long-term growth story of India, I don’t think there can be a better time.

Now that Brics has sold its institutional broking to Lehman, are you re-looking at your services portfolio? Would you be entering the M&A market?

Our Group is already into the PE business. On M&A as a service, we are exploring tie up with an existing player.

Do you see a high potential in SMEs (small and medium enterprises), with larger companies flattening on valuations and with the current bearish market sentiments?

Without SME, India’s growth story will not happen. Increasingly all large corporations are converting themselves into assembly lines and therefore we need more SMEs to feed them.

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