The management team of Panda Dairy Group rings the trading bell during the company's debut at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Oct 16. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

Panda Dairy Group was listed on the Growth Enterprise Market of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Oct 16, bringing the total number of Zhejiang-based companies listed on domestic stock markets to 500.

Following Guangdong province, Zhejiang is the second Chinese province to be home to more than 500 domestically listed companies, accounting for one eighth of the national total.

The milestone comes after Zhejiang authorities launched "Phoenix Action" in October 2017, which focused on facilitating initial public offerings (IPOs), mergers and acquisitions among the province's companies between 2017 and 2020.

This led to 16, 25, and 43 Zhejiang-based companies being listed on domestic stock markets in 2018, 2019, and the first nine months of this year, respectively.

Listed companies have become significant contributors to Zhejiang’s industrial restructuring and upgrading, laying a solid foundation for the province's sustainable development. In recent years, Zhejiang-based listed companies have gradually shifted their focus from conventional manufacturing to strategic emerging industries such as internet security, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, internet of things, and intelligent manufacturing.