Sebi Sees Big Derivatives Arena

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman Devendra Raj Mehta said major activity was expected in the derivatives side, with Sebi moving quickly to usher in derivatives trading in the stock exchanges.

Already, 300 brokers had applied to Sebi for derivatives trading, which would be cleared by May 20.

This apart, the mandatory derivatives inspection of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) is also over, and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) inspection will also be completedby May 20, the Securities and Exchange Board chairman said.

The accounting norms for the derivatives trading regime are being finalised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), and would be readied by May 25, he said.

 

"The stock exchanges are ready with the infrastructure, trading will commence immediately after the bylaws are published in the official gazette", he said.

Mehta pointed out that following the introduction of more stocks on the rolling settlement mode and the introduction of derivatives trading, the two would complement each other and also serve to generate volumes.

"The rolling settlement movement is on _ there is no going back. We will go ahead based on the experience of the stocks we put on the rolling mode", Mehta said. Only yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Board of India added 165 more stocks on the rolling mode, taking the total to 209 stocks.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman also said that the next Sebi board meeting would, in all probability, push through another major reform _ that of getting all stocks listed on National, Calcutta, Delhi and Ahmedabad stock exchanges on the compulsory dematerialisation mode.

"That way, 98 per cent of all trades would be dematerialised. This is a significant change in the country's capital markets."

The first phase would be completed by March 31, 2001. More and more stocks would be added in phases.