Ironically, not a single IT stock figures in the list of 84 fundamentally sound companies listed at OTCEI. This exchange was primarily set up to provide an opportunity to have their shares traded.

It was modelled on the Nasdaq exchange which has boomed on the back of a large number of IT companies getting themselves listed at the bourse. Their growth was fuelled by an extremely sound venture capital industry.

When OTCEI set out with its stask of providing a similar opportunity to first generation entrepreneurs, the IT industry in India was not a patch on what it is today. In a changed scenario it is the IT industry which holds out the maximum promise for growth and this is the ideal sector where an exchange like OTCEI could playa role. OTCEI has decided to place a number of IT scrips in the permitted category but these are stocks which one of the largest traded at the large exchanges as well. For the mid-cap and low-cap IT stocks a separate segment is proposed. This will extend a semblance of exclusivity to the sector, said OTCEI managing director, Joseph Bosco.

The exchange is scrutinising 45 companies in the computer hardware, computer software, computer peripherals, computer services, telecom service providers and telecom equipment suppliers sector. Some of these companies would form part of the IT index which will be constructed. Under the category of computer hardware (large) the companies identified are Altos, Digital Equipment, HCL Info, PCL, Unicorp and Siemens.

In the computer hardware (medium and small sector) the companies recognised are Sterling Computers, Tata Elxsi and VXL Instruments while in the computer-peripherals & accessories segment the companies recognised are Moser Baer, SPIC Electronics and TVSElectronics.

In the computer software, the companies shortlisted are CMC, DSQ Software, Infosys Technology, NIIT, BFL Software, Silverline Industries, Fujitsu-ICIM, Pentafour Software, Rolta India, Satyam Computers and Tata Infotech.