Metropolitan Stock Exchange tweaks transaction charges

Amid dwindling business volumes and a large number of brokers threatening to quit its platform, Metropolitan Stock Exchange has revised transaction charges for currency derivatives trading.
The exchange, formerly known as MCX Stock Exchange, has been in deep crisis ever since its erstwhile promoters, embattled Jignesh Shah-led FTIL Group were forced to exit; and the trade volumes on its platform have been falling consistently while it has also struggled to meet regulatory requirements on various parameters.
Sebi had given a conditional renewal to its stock exchange licence last year that is valid till September 15.
Its monthly turnover of currency derivatives fell by 17.9 per cent to Rs 15,817 crore in December 2015, from Rs 19,275 crore in the previous month.

In comparison, NSE's monthly turnover of currency derivatives rose by 5.8 per cent to Rs 3,55,065 crore in the same month, while that at NSE rose even faster by 7.7 per cent to Rs 1,93,962 crore.
Similar trend was seen in the interest rate derivatives.

In a new circular, the exchange has now said it has decided to revise the transaction charges in the currency derivatives segment with effect from tomorrow.
Consequently, the transaction charge for the active side of the transaction in currency futures would be Rs 105 per crore of traded value and at Rs 50 crore for passive side.

For currency options, the transaction charge would be Rs 10 per lakh on premium traded value and at Rs 10 per crore of the traded value for interest rate futures.
The exchange has also decided to cap the monthly cumulative transaction charge payable by a trading member in currency derivatives at Rs 4.5 lakh.
"In other words, a trading member can execute unlimited value of trades in currency derivatives segment by paying a fixed monthly transaction charge of Rs 4.5 lakh, subject to fulfillment of other requirements such as positional limits and margins," the exchange said.
The bourse also said it has set up a dedicated helpdesk for paying attention to the specific concerns of the inactive members for resuming their trading activities.

There have been reports that a large number of the brokers want to surrender their membership of the exchange, while a majority of them are as such inactive on its platform.
Industry experts however said that the revised charges are too high and more than ten-times higher than BSE's Rs 10 per crore.
The exchange is still said to be paying large sums to its erstwhile promoter group entities for technology, while its staff cost is also high and two CEOs have left in the past two years. Besides, its clearing corporation has not got sufficient funds.