The Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has cleared the nation-wide expansion of the Delhi Stock Exchange On-Line Trading System (DOTS), beginning with the setting up of DOTS terminals in 57 cities in the north.
This will make the DSE (Delhi Stock Exchange) the third bourse after the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) with a national presence.
The Sebi nod comes in the wake of the DSE operationalising its trade guarantee fund (TGF) with effect from July 27. The TGF -- which guarantees transactions under the aegis of the exchange -- is mandatory under Sebi norms for the nation-wide expansion of a bourse.
The 57 cities, which have been granted the Sebi approval, do not have a stock exchange. Under the Sebi laws, reciprocal tie-up is mandatory for the setting up of a terminal where a stock exchange already exists.
DSE president Deepak Chowdhry expects each of the 57 cities to have an average of two terminals to begin with.
"The expansion will give DSE a national presence, enhance liquidity and help us provide better service to investors in various parts of north India. It will also channelise additional funds for the capital markets by tapping areas where people have traditionally invested in debt for want of access to the capital market," Chowdhry told Business Standard. Chowdhry expects post-expansion DSE's share in the total daily trading turnover of the domestic capital markets to go up from the current 9 per cent to at least 12-13 per cent by recording a rise of at least Rs 200-300 crore a day.
DSE executive-director S S Sodhi points out that North Indian brokers with BSE
memberships face problems since BSE's pay-in and pay-out of securities take place in Mumbai. Having DSE memberships will be much more convenient for them.
"DSE members have shown a lot of enthusiasm for the expansion. The list of 57 cities has been worked out on the basis of their applications. The expansion will further enhance the prominence of DSE in the national capital market," he said. The cities with which DSE kicks off its nation-wide expansion are Rohtak, Hissar, Panipat, Karnal, Faridabad, Panchkula, Bhiwani, Gurgaon, Sonepat, Rewari and Narnaul in Haryana; Amritsar, Nabha, Patiala, Jalandhar and Firozpur in Punjab; Muzaffarnagar, Noida, Ghaziabad, Najibabad, Aligarh, Agra, Meerut, Moradabad, Bareilly, Dehradun, Haridwar, Mathura, Roorkee, Saharanpur, Almora, Nainital, Lucknow, Allahabad and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh; Gwalior, Bhopal, Khandwa, Bilaspur, Raipur and Bhilai in Madhra Pradesh; Jammu in Jammu & Kashmir; Sri Ganganagar, Jhunjhunu, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Chittorgarh, Kota, Udaipur and Mount Abu in Rajasthan; Shimla, Chamba, Kullu, Mandi and Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh; and the Union territory of Chandigarh.
