Mr S Nallakaruppan, President of the Society of Remisiers (Singapore) (SRS), has voiced his concerns over the exclusion of key market participants from the newly formed Review Committee tasked with revitalizing Singapore’s stock market.

In a recent LinkedIn post, he emphasized the importance of including organizations such as SRS and the Securities Association of Singapore (SAS) in the committee’s work, given their critical roles in the market.

This call for inclusion comes shortly after Mr Nallakaruppan was quoted in a July 2024 article by Channel NewsAsia (CNA), where he reflected on the decline of Singapore’s stock market from its peak in the 1990s.

He nostalgically recalled 1993 as the “golden year” for the market, highlighted by the bull run of the Straits Times Industrials Index and the landmark public listing of Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel).

However, he lamented the current state of the market, describing it as being in a “rock bottom” condition, characterized by low liquidity, poor valuations, and a lack of excitement that has led to a “vicious cycle” of delistings and scarce new listings.

Mr Nallakaruppan pointed out that SGX had only seen one minor IPO in the first half of 2024, which underscored the need for urgent action.

“The days of a buzzing stock market are long gone,” he told CNA. “We need a jumpstart. The moribund stock market is like a person in an intensive care unit and the heartbeat is getting flatline.”

He proposed a bold approach, similar to the Singtel IPO in 1993, by listing another significant government-linked company to reignite market interest and activity.

In his LinkedIn post, Mr Nallakaruppan expressed his disappointment that neither SRS nor SAS were included in the 10-person Review Committee, which was established by the Singapore government on 2 August 2024.

The committee, chaired by Second Minister for Finance and MAS Board Member Mr Chee Hong Tat, is charged with assessing the current state of Singapore’s eq...