India's oldest stock exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has brought its IPO plans back out of the closet. The management is in dialogue with market regulator SEBI to iron out any glitches before it proceeds to float the issue.

After demutualisation, BSE is ready to take the next big step, that is, to get all clearances from the market regulator, for which the management seems to be in hurry.

The BSE top brass on Tuesday met SEBI officials with the objective of sorting out two primary issues that need the regulator's clearance.

One is to retain the public holding at 51 per cent despite pressures from certain stakeholders and two, to restrict the stock's listing to the BSE bourse.

According to experts, any further delay in going public might not go down well with key investors like the Singapore Stock Exchange and Germany's Deutsche Boerse, that have bought a five per cent stake worth $43 million each in the BSE.

SEBI, too, wants this process to be hastened as listing the country's oldest exchange will not only increase transparency but also urge the bourse to adopt the best Corporate Governance practices. Moreover, it will also help boost the exchange's reserves by over Rs 1,500 crore.

However, the one thing that bothers the BSE Managment, now, is the timing of the IPO.

Nevertheless, the officials have kept their fingers crossed and an IPO this fiscal seems quite likely.