BSE kicks off bond trading

The BSE move is part of the exercise to deepen and strengthen the bond market which is yet to take off. In order to provide unrestricted and open access to the reporting platform with zero cost for the other reporting entities such as primary dealers, financial institutions, mutual funds, banks, etc., BSE has rolled out an Internet based system for reporting the deals.

To make the framework inclusive, BSE has also tied up with two leading data dissemination agencies of international repute having a wide footprint in India covering most of the primary dealers and other participants in the debt market for reporting of trades through their systems / networks, the details of which would be announced shortly.

The Finance Minister, while presenting the Union Budget for 2006-2007, had proposed the creation of a single, unified exchange-traded market for corporate bonds in India. Pursuant to the recommendations of its internal committee, Sebi issued a circular on December 12, 2006, entrusting to the Bombay Stock Exchange the task of rolling out a unified reporting platform for all corporate bonds traded in India.

The BSE has undertaken a comprehensive contact programme with the market participants to achieve higher levels of reporting and compliance in order to bring in increased transparency in the debt market.