Cse May Post Rs 3.5 Crore Loss In Fy02

The Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) is likely to incur a net loss of nearly Rs 3.5 crore in the financial year ending March 31, 2002.

Alongside, the bourse has appointed Supriyo Gupta, chairman of the management sub-committee, as president. This appointment will enable Gupta to preside over the forthcoming CSE annual general meeting.

A legal problem would have arisen if the AGM is conducted by a non-member but the appointment of Gupta bypasses the roadblock.

The CSE constitution does not permit a non-member to preside over its AGM, while the Securities and Exchange Board of India has banned elected brokers from holding positions including the office of president. By accepting Gupta, a non-member, as president, CSE members have overcome this problem.

The CSE board met yesterday in preparation for the AGM but failed to finalise the balance-sheet for 2001-02. Information available indicated that CSE will end up with net loss of a shade over Rs 3.50 crore.

The board will finalise the accounts for 2001-02 three weeks before the AGM. The deadline for holding the AGM is September 30.

In 2000-01, the exchange posted a net loss of nearly Rs 10 crore even after recording a cash profit of Rs 32 crore. CSE had to incur the loss owing to the combined provisioning of Rs 22 crore on account of depreciation and withdrawal from general reserves and settlement guarantee fund.

The bourse had to provide Rs 5 crore on depreciation, Rs 9 crore on settlement guarantee fund and Rs 19 crore on general reserves. Brought down on its knees by the payment crisis in March 2001, the bourse had to draw from general reserves of the previous year to meet its pay-in obligations.