"Five infotech companies are going to be listed on the Nasdaq in the calendar 2000 beginning from February," president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), Dewang Mehta, said today.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Venture Capital India '99 conference, organised by Nasscom, he, however, refused to name the companies. Two Indian infotech companies - Infosys and Satyam Infoway - are already listed on the Nasdaq.

Meanwhile, Nasscom recommended ease in norms for internet and e-commerce companies making Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in India.

"Nasscom has suggested to Sebi to relax its norms and do away with the mandatory three-year profitability track record for IPOs, especially with regard to Internet and E-commerce companies," Mehta said.

Sebi had earlier fixed minimum capitalisation and three-year profitability norms for companies planning to make public offerings of their equity.

Nasscom argued that keeping in line with global trends, it could be too late for an Internet company to wait for three years of profit before going public.