Feeling the pulse of biotechnology activities in Karnataka, the US stock exchange NASDAQ opened its first South Asia liaison office in Bangalore last evening.

The decision to open an office in the Information Technology [IT] capital of India, Bangalore was two fold, said Alfred R Berkeley, III, vice chairman, NASDAQ. "First was to provide services to our existing companies and second to assist other companies in the emerging biotechnology sector to get listed on the NASDAQ," he explained.

There are several IT majors like Infosys Technologies, Cisco, Microsoft, to name a few, which are listed. Among the biotechnology majors Biocon India Limited is contemplating on NASDAQ.

The arrival of the US stock exchange office is well timed, according to S M Krishna, chief minister of Karnataka who also released a brochure of the forthcoming Bangalore Bio.com, a major conference and trade fair of biotech companies to be held on April 15. "We have taken a 10-year view and with the Bio.com conference coming up in Karnataka, efforts to promote and incubate the biotechnology industry are on", he said.

A majority of IT companies and the emerging biotechnology companies are listed on it giving the global stock exchange its unique technology edge over competition. The Bangalore office is considered by NASDAQ as a long tern investment.