The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) will launch a separate stock exchange for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by the end of this year, a news agency reported Wednesday.

"We are awaiting SEBI approval. I am hopeful that in 3-6 months we will start the SME exchange," BSE Deputy CEO Ashish Chauhan was quoted by the news agency as saying.

He said that the exchange had submitted the preliminary application to capital market regulator SEBI earlier this month seeking permission to launch the SME exchange.

The exchange would facilitate SMEs to raise money from the market once it is live.

BSE is in talks with a number of merchant bankers and brokers to seek their feedback on the endeavour. At present there are around 3,000 SMEs trading through the BSE platform.

Apart from BSE, National Stock Exchange and MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) have also evinced keen interest in setting up such platforms for the SMEs.

In November last year, SEBI had issued guidelines for setting up SME exchanges in India and for the SMEs wanting to get enlisted in such exchanges. The guidelines released by SEBI last year relaxed the listing and disclosure requirements for the SMEs.