Bug creeps into Sebi Y2K statement

MUMBAI, DECEMBER 13: Is it a case of the stock market regulator not knowing what8217;s happening, or is it that the Pune stock exchange has jumped the gun declaring itself to be Y2K-OK?

On December 10, based on a press release from SEBI, this paper carried a news item listing the Pune stock exchange as one of the 6 non-Y2K compliant stock exchanges in the country. Immediately, the Pune stock exchange wrote to us, stating that it was indeed Y2K-OK, that it had done mock trading on the 16th of November to test this, and had even informed SEBI about this. Yet, three weeks after this mock-testing, SEBI chose to list it as non-Y2K compliant, and advised the stock exchanges to deactivate the terminals of those brokers who were not Y2K compliant from December 15.

When quizzed by The Indian Express on the Pune Stock Exchange claim, officials of SEBI just said 8220;We got a letter from the Pune Stock Exchange about Y2K compliance recently. We will review the situation and inform about the compliance later this week.8221; Inother words, we still don8217;t have the final word on whether or not the Pune Stock Exchange is Y2K-OK. Makes you wonder a bit about all the Y2K-OK statements that companies routinely issue saying they8217;ve beaten the millenium bug.