BANGALORE, Oct 17: Delays in the starting of the much-touted Inter-Connected Stock Exchange could not have come at a worse time for the regional stock exchanges (RSEs). The capital market rigmarole has most of the RSEs in a state of panic. Today they are grappling with a host of problems like low volumes, vanishing investors, liquidity crunch and depleting listing fees.In fact, many of them are gasping for breath with just negligible trades.The ISE had visualised a national market akin to the NSE for the RSEs. According to sources, the start-up date is now likely to be delayed by around two months. The ISE had earlier planned to start trading in July which was put off to September and then to November. Although no formal announcement has been made it is now expected to start only in a month or two. The RSEs now feel that any further delays would throw a spanner in the works even as many are contemplating closing down operations. They say that it will be in the larger interest if the ISE takes off at theearliest.ISE sources, however, maintain that there is no cause for concern. The delays have largely been procedural and would be ironed out soon. ``We expect the software problems to be sorted out later this month after which mock trading is expected to start. We have also decided to take some firm measures to ensure that we have adequate funds at start-up,'' they maintain.The ISE has now asked all the participating bourses to complete the initial payment of Rs 1 crore by October 31. Bourses that fail to make the payments within the stipulated time will have to pay interest on the amount due at the rate of 21% with effect from November 1. For those who have registered as traders with the ISE by December 31, the bourse will offer some concessions like admission fee which could be reduced or waived. This, they feel, will help grow the tribe of traders at the ISE - particularly those from the RSEs.The ISE top brass, while offering sops, has also put some riders. They have stipulated that only thosebourses that have paid full dues would be permitted to participate in the trading. Those that have made part payments will be allowed to participate only in the mock trading.The officials denied that Sebi has withheld clearance for the bourse. ``There is no truth in reports that Sebi has withheld clearance. Yes, they have sought fresh clarifications from us vis-a-vis the settlement guarantee fund (SGF). We had envisaged a larger SGF earlier but it may not happen now due to delays in start-up,'' a senior ISE official said. He added that the SGF will have a inital corpus of Rs 5 crore which would be hiked subsequently after the system goes live.Top ISE officials, who met Sebi chief D R Mehta in Mumbai recently, feel that the final clearance issue would be sorted out amicably soon. They have also suggested doing away with twin capital adequacy norms for brokers who are not trading on the RSEs.
