In a move that will bring cheer to around Rs 8,000 crore of investment in stock exchanges like the NSE, BSE and MCX-SX, the finance ministry is likely to allow stock exchanges to cross list – that is, NSE cannot list on NSE, but is free to do so on rival exchanges like BSE or MCX-SX.

Confirming this to FE, a senior finance ministry official said any manipulation of its own shares by an exchange could be negated if it is listed only on rival exchanges.

The ministry’s decision, to be conveyed to market regulator Sebi shortly, follows formal protests by investors of exchanges like the NSE over the Jalan Committee’s recommendation to not allow listing – these investors said they had invested on the implicit assumption that listing would be allowed.

Interestingly, at a CII seminar on the Jalan committee on Tuesday, Jalan sought to distance himself somewhat…