Calcutta Exchange Gets Wired For Change

Come February 20 and the 69-year-old Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) will, at least partially, give up its open outcry system for the silently efficient computer terminals.

CSE has successfully completed its CSE Screen Based Trading And Reporting System (Cstar) within the deadline set by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

The formal inauguration of the system will be at the hands of West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu, with Sebi chairman Devendra Raj Mehta as the chief guest.

Pratip Kar, executive director, Sebi, who, as former CSE board member, was instrumental in the bourse's move to go on-line, said: "The fruition of CSE's efforts in going on-line is expected to be a major step forward in the modernisation of the old trading systems and practices of the exchange.''

 

"But this is a beginning and we hope that the exchange will continue with its efforts towards greater transparency, reduction of risk and improving service standards for the benefit of the investor. Indeed, CSE could become a catalyst for the securities market in the eastern region,'' Kar adds.

Dinesh Singhania, president, CSE said: "The on-line system will be a boon to investors and will instil greater transparency."

Though the exchange has been talking of going on-line for years, it was not one of the fastest to put the system in place.

However, with a new gung-ho approach and a brand new board, CSE has now made rapid strides and caught up with the rest of the bourses in the battle of the wires.

A major departure from the past is in the area of market surveillance (MS) where the former system of post trade monitoring and action will be replaced by on-line surveillance.

But, alongside the festivities of on-line launch exists an air of apprehension over the new system.

The traditional dhoti-clad pan-chewing broker on Lyons Range will have to cope up with the new environs, marked by suave young "traders'' from wired broking firms. And that is as much a culture shock as any.

Prophets of doom are, therefore, not hard to find. Says a leading broker, who is also on the CSE board: "Many exchanges abroad are thinking of reverting to the outcry system in some form or other.

The business in CSE will drop and we will be left with empty coffers after paying hefty bills for going on-line."