BSE seeks to host govt debt sales on bourse

BSE, Asia's oldest bourse, is seeking approval from India's central bank to host government debt auctions to lure more individual investors. BSE, backed by Deutsche Boerse AG, has asked the Reserve Bank of India to allow debt issuance through its electronic securities-sales platform, Chief Executive Officer Ashishkumar Chauhan said. The RBI now holds weekly sovereign-note sales, which are open to individuals though dominated by institutional investors and banks, on its own platform. "We are writing to the central bank to seek approval for debt auctions through the exchange," Chauhan said in a July 31 interview at his office in Mumbai. Government plans to sell Rs 600,000 crore of bonds in the year ending March 2015, according to a budget estimate published July 10.