Said Mr Ian Salter, deputy chairman of LSE, ``Most of the Indian companies who are anxious to get listed on LSE belong to the technology sector.'' Mr Salter, while driving down the point that LSE can be a major source of global capital, added that, ``Lot of Indian companies who expressed their willingness to list on LSE, especially IT firms, have postponed listing due to the recent tech stocks battering accross-the-world.''

A few Indian companies have finalised their listing plans on LSE and in the next one and half years, they will have access to global capital. ``Around five to six companies from different sectors are likely to be listed on LSE in the next 12-16 months,'' said Ms Goodman.

Outlining the benefits of LSE listing, Mr Salter said, ``London offers tremendous scope for accessing international capital. You will have easier and cheaper access to a professional GDR market. Compared to Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange, GDR market is less stringent as far as listing norms are concerned. This is reflected in the fact that 20 Indian companies are already listed on LSE.''

As information technology is the current flavour, Indian companies can have greater access to Europe through LSE. ``The real drive for Indian technology companies to list on LSE is probably the fact that Europe is a vast market,'' Mr Salter opined. On one hand, Indian tech companies can look for acquisitions in Europe and on the other, their profile will get a major lift which in turn will help them get more clients, he added.

``We are increasingly becoming focussed on the needs of technology-driven companies. An increasing proportion of the new companies coming to our market are those whose success depends on the innovations they are able to bring forward,'' Mr Salter said.

The three aims to list on LSE are capital, liquidity and visibility. LSE can be a gateway to international capital as more than 90,000 institutional investors are trading on the exchange. ``Our systems also provide the capability to transmit real-time share price and other information on listed companies to more than 90,000 institutional investors world-wide, raising the profile and visibility of those companies around the globe,'' Mr Salter said.

LSE with much more international listings than any other stock market including NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange raised US$ 900 billion in the past five years, Mr Salter stated. Around 520 international companies have been listed on LSE, while domestic companies constitute 2299. However, the market capitalisation of international companies is more than double that of domestic companies. International companies have a market capitalisation of US$ 5840 billion, while companies in the United Kingdom have a much lower figure of US$ 2810 billion.