``We wanted top domestic companies to offer shares to the Indian public while they offer shares to overseas investors," SEBI chairman D R Mehta said, adding that he had made recommendations to government in this direction as part of measures to revive the domestic primary market.

Many top Indian companies including Satyam Infoway, HDFC Bank, MTNL and HCL Technologies, have already announced plans to list shares on the US market through American Depository Receipts (ADRS). Maintaining that domestic market had not seen quality public issues for a long time, Mehta said this condition would act as a boon to the fledgling primary capital market.

``There is no reason to deprive the Indian public of good quality issues. Even public sector companies are shying away fromoffering shares to the retail Indian public,'' he said. Only companies which adhere to high standards of transparency and corporate governance were in a position to sell shares successfully at the American markets. Besides, these companies have to follow the stricter norms of the US market regulator Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).

Asked about the government response to the proposal, Mehta said he was hopeful that the government would favorably consider the SEBI proposal as current plight of the capital market was due to the low quality of issues. Indian investors have become more discerning and have learnt lessons from the past when many corporates fixed their shares highly to take investors for a ride, he said.

Mehta said there was no reason to believe that good quality issues by Indian corporates would not be picked up by domestic investors. The SEBI chairman said primary market in India was also looking up compared to the last year following an upward trend in the secondary stock market.

SEBIhas cleared 25 public issues amounting to Rs 8,180 crore during the first four months of current fiscal (April-July), compared to 26 issues in the same period last year.