S&P DJI seeks strategic opportunities in India after parting ways with BSE

S&P Dow Jones Indices also affirmed commitment to minimise the troubles for the domestic and international client base as it unwinds the current relationship with BSE.

After Asia's oldest bourse BSE announced snapping of ties with S&P Dow Jones Indices (DJI), the latter said on Wednesday that it is looking at ways of expanding activity and seeking "strategic opportunities" in the country.

"India continues to be an important part of S&P DJIs global growth strategy and we will continue to find ways to expand commercial activities in the country, look for strategic opportunities," an official statement said.

The company will seek "strategic partners fully committed to providing Indian and global investors with the index-based solutions they need to take part in Indias exciting growth story," it said.

It also affirmed commitment to minimise the troubles for the domestic and international client base as it unwinds the current relationship with BSE.

The company said it has been working in the country since 1999 through various partnerships.

It also listed out milestones since it started working with BSE, including launch of a full suite of indices covering sector, size, thematics, factor, and ESG themed benchmarks, and creation of the S&P BSE Bharat 22 Index, among others.

BSE had decided to snap ties with S&P Dow Jones, which manages and operates benchmark Sensex, and plans to develop indices through its own in-house development team, exchanges officials said.

The two entities had announced a joint venture, Asia Index, in 2013 to provide an array of indices enabling global and domestic investors to participate in South Asias vibrant economies. The deal with BSE came after the expiry of the licensing arrangement between India Index Services and Products (IISL), a joint venture of NSE and S&P-owned Crisil.

The exchange officials said that BSE will not renew its agreement with S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC which expires on 31 December 2018 and it is looking to develop indices through its own team.

"Basically, we had done this tie-up five years back, but the joint venture could not do much in terms of expanding in the foreign jurisdiction, the usage of the indexes and all," BSE managing director and chief executive Ashishkumar Chauhan told investors in a conference call last week.

"And that is why we have decided to not renew it, but overall the impact on profits or on the revenues will be minuscule," he added.

Rival bourse National Stock Exchanges indices are managed and operated by NSE Indices, an arm of NSE. S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies, is the worlds largest global resource for index-based concepts, data and research. BSE is Asias oldest stock exchange and home to the iconic Sensex index a leading indicator of Indian equity market performance.