Mr Premji also cautioned the Indian companies against the pitfalls in rushing to international stock exchanges without taking into consideration the real requirement of the company.

"If the objective is just raising resources, the Indian market appears to be the best. But if the aim is global positioning or acquisitions, listing in international exchanges becomes essential. And US exchanges appear to be the best for the Indian companies," he said.

Sharing the experience of Wipro, Mr Premji pointed out that listing in an international exchange involved much more cost than what it takes in the Indian market.

On an average 5 to 8 per cent of the issue size goes for financing the issue and the company would also incur a recurring cost in keeping a standard investor service.

International listing makes its mandatory that the company should follow the transparent procedures accepted at a global level, he said. Mr Premji also felt that the profile of initial public offerings (IPO) is changing with more and more companies hitting the market for funding expansion and acquisition. Earlier most of the IPOs centred around raising resources but that had now changed, he added.

Addressing the seminar US commercial consul Donald Nay said, the number of H1B visas to be issued by the Chennai office was expected to touch 2,25,000 in the current year. This showed the strength of the Indian IT sector in the US market, he added.

Mr Nay said the US government was committed to develop greater co-operation between the two countries in these areas. Earlier, the Nasdaq vice-chairman Alfred Berkeley III made the keynote address in the two-day seminar.

Representatives of the Singapore Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange and leading institutional investors were taking part in the two-day seminar.