Over the last few years, the BSE has made a determined effort to move away from operating like a closed club of brokers serving primarily their own ends. Brokers have come to discover virtue in courting retail investors. This has forced a complete change in mindset: the view now is that the rules of the stock market should be transparent and that the risks involved in trading and settlement systems have to be minimised. Settlements, in which delays were previously common, have gone like clockwork in the last year. Per force brokers have come to agree to capital adequacy norms, as also a tighter margin structure which takes volatility in the market into account. In a way, the change was inevitable but what is important is that the BSE leadership in the last few years has facilitated the course of change and thereby made the transition less painful.
The task before the reconstituted governing board is to take reform further. But equally, it has to turn its attention to growing discontent among the ranks of brokers. The outgoing governing board may count amongst its successes getting the government to agree on a one-time tax waiver for brokers going corporate, on getting Sebi approval for BOLT expansion, increasing trading capacity and obtaining insurance cover for brokers, but sections say this is not enough. The National Stock Exchange proposes to reach out into the hinterlands in the next phase of expansion; however, BSEs BOLT expansion plan is still confined to city limits. A safety net for brokers by way of a trade guarantee fund remains at the planning stage. So also is the issue of tying up bank finance for brokers. No doubt the ball is in the banks and RBIs court, but still brokers expect the BSE governing board to carry its clout into working out a deal.
