Mayhem In Up Bourse Over Lml Badla

Brokers on the Uttar Pradesh stock exchange nearly came to blows last week over the fixing of the badla charge for carryover in the LML scrip.

A section of operators held bull positions and demanded a badla charge of Rs 5 per share from the sellers who did not have delivery. This led to heated arguments between the two sides.

Both the sections of brokers came down from their cabins and gathered in the trading hall and repeated efforts to bring a settlement failed. The hall is not in use since the exchange switched over to full on-line trading.

After intervention by senior brokers, the badla charge was fixed at Rs 2.50 a share. Further, earlier settlements which may have been arrived at between the two parties were annulled.

Kanpur is the only exchange where there is a significant badla charge in the LML scrip. At others bourses the charge is a measly 50 paise or at the most one rupee. Due to this disparity, brokers in the LML scrip prefer to operate in the Kanpur exchange. The brokers lamented that the investing public, which has held their LML scrip for close to a decade, is now divesting it at a lower price.

Most of these shares are being lapped up by operators from Mumbai, Calcutta and New Delhi.