Ase Boycott Continues For Third Day

The boycott of trading by the ASE Brokers Association (ABA) continued for the third consecutive day with not a single trade being reported on the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange (ASE) today.

The ASE members, who are demanding reintroduction of carry-forward system and account period settlement and agitating against the imposition of compulsory rolling settlement in widely traded scrips, today took out rallies in the city against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

The first rally, which started around 10.30 am from the ASE went around the Ambawadi area. The agitators gheraoed Dhandhuka district BJP MLA Ratilal Varma and got an assurance from him to help the ABA in presenting their problem before the Union finance minister.

The second rally, comprising more than 1,000 people, started from ASE around 2.30 pm and reached the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) premises around 3 pm. They then submitted a memorandum to GCCI president Kalyan Shah, with a request to present their demands before the Union finance minister.

ABA chairman Apurva R Shah said the association would now submit the same memorandum to Gujarat chief minister Keshubhai Patel to seek the state government's support. "Since Keshubhai is in New Delhi on Thursday, we plan to meet him on Friday or Saturday and are hopeful that the state government will help us get our grievances redressed from the Union finance ministry and Sebi," he added.

Shah said the ABA memorandum submitted to GCCI has put forth five specific demands. The first is that stock exchanges should be allowed to trade in the weekly settlement and carry-forward system along with rolling settlement also available for the same scrips. The second is that margin trading and security lending through the stock exchange system should be worked out in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India and free flow of funds should be ensured to the capital market.

Emphasising that it is the investors' right to decide the product he wants to use, ABA said the Sebi should not and cannot dictate terms for a particular system. The fourth demand is that the regulator has to make available all products and allow the market to decide which one suits the best. According to the association, if all the products are allowed at the same time, inefficient products would die natural death. The fifth demand is that regional stock exchanges should be allowed to introduce derivative trading with more practical guidelines, Shah said.