Bolt Kick-Off From 75 Centres Planned
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) is preparing for a simultaneous kick-off for its on-line trading (BOLT) expansion plan at all its 75 approved regional centres.
The exchange has, as on May 2, 1997, received 167 applications from broker-members, for expansion, BSE president M G Damani said.
The no objection certificate has been granted by the exchange for 160 of these applications and the site survey has been completed for 157 applications by technical partners Hughes Escorts (India).
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The exchange is preparing for the expansion to all these centres simultaneously instead of initially moving in for a trading -link up with brokers of the larger stock exchanges of Calcutta and Ahmedabad.
The expansion strategy of the BSE top brass revolves around the broker's demand and the investor interest at various centres.
The immediate expansion would not include the larger centres, exchange officials said, though both the Calcutta Stock Exchange and the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange are expected to come on the BSE on-line trading system map by June, sources said.
According to BSE insiders, the DoT approval for the V-Sat link-up is expected this week.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had cleared the BOLT expansion plan on October 29, 1996.
The applications call for the setting up of 170 terminals and the BSE has already received funds towards this end. The exchange is charging a sum of Rs 2 lakh per terminal and an additional Rs 45,000 for uninterrupted power supply.
The applications received from members are for expansion to 23 locations within the Mumbai suburbs while other centres for expansion include Ahmednagar, Akola, Bhiwandi, Bhopal, Calicut, Coimbatore, Guwahati, Ghaziabad, Jalgaon, Varanasi, Nainital, Noida, Agra, Udaipur, Jaipur, Vijaywada, Surat and Satara, besides others.
CMC and Tandem, which are jointly looking into the upgradation plan for the BOLT expansion and the BSE depository system, say the exchange is ready to take on the load of simultaneous trading at over 75 centres nationwide.
The exchange is currently operating with the K20,000 technology, with the capacity for 5,00,000 trades per day.
The US-based Hughes Networks promises to its users the downtime of 0.2 per cent, which means that for 99.8 per cent of the time, the TWS system would be guaranteed to be functional at any given time, sources said. Negotiations are on with Tandem to ensure upgradation of the existing system within a month's notice.
According to the details, the sites ready for expansion are 127 taking into account all safety measures. As part of phase I, the exchange is ready with an immediate V-SAT connectivity link-up for its members.
The BSE chief, who visited the US to study the depository system there, is of the view that the mood of the markets will change if the signals for the monsoons are positive. The markets will turn vibrant gradually, he said.
The BSE, which in recent weeks has witnessed listless trading, has clocked an average traded turnover of Rs 600 crore in April.