Now, common contract note across segments

Move expected to cut paperwork

The stock exchanges have decided to put in place a format for a common contract note across segments.

The capital market(CM), futures and options(F&O) as well as the Currency Derivatives(CD) segment will all have a common contract note, according to notices on the exchange websites.

“In consultation with Sebi(Securities and Exchange Board of India), other Exchanges and Member Associations, it has been decided to have a common contract note across CM, F&O and CD segments and across all Exchanges,” said the notification on the National Stock Exchange website.

“Further, trading members are requested to comply with the above requirements on or before April 1, 2014. An Operating Instruction will be issued in due course,” said another notice on the BSE website.

Earlier brokers had to issue different contract notes for different segments, even if they were for the same client.

A contract note is a record of a transaction. It has details including the time of the trade, the order number, the nature of the trade in terms of what kind of security was bought or sold, as well as brokerage and taxation rates.

Brokerages had met the regulator to rationalize the documentation process in July.

The move is expected to help cut clutter in a segment where the majority of the documentation is still in physical form, according to brokers.