D-street on your mobile
Stock trading promises to spread as the BSE and NSE offer mobile trading platforms.
Print Edition: Nov 28, 2010
Trade on your handset
All the leading broking houses are now offering mobile trading platforms. Asia's oldest bourse, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), was the first stock exchange to offer this facility, in September this year, through its network of stockbrokers. The National Stock Exchange (NSE), too, has kicked off its mobile trading platform. Sharekhan, Motilal Oswal, ICICI Direct and IndiaInfoline are among the host of brokerages offering this service.
How it works
It is an extension of the Internet-based trading platform - from a desktop or a laptop to a mobile handset. A user just has to download a customised application from a stockbroker's portal to his mobile to start trading on the BSE and the NSE. The trading application is customised for a mobile screen. You can see your orders, demat balance and also prices of stocks live on your mobile screen.
What it costs the investors
There are no separate charges for downloading an application on the phone. But investors need a Javaenabled phone with a GPRS connection or a smartphone to run the application. The subs c r i p t i o n charges for GPRS are as low as Rs 199 a month , which a mobile user has to pay to the mobile service provider. Investors without a trading account have to open a three-in-one account (demat, broking and a bank a/c) with a broking house where they have to pay the normal account opening charges.
The road ahead
The exchanges are hoping that a mobile trading platform will drive the penetration of the equity markets in smaller towns and cities. There are already close to 700 million mobile connections in India, but only nine million demat accounts. With 3G services around the corner, trading through your mobile will become faster and more convenient.
Global experience
Mobile trading is a new phenomenon globally. Analysts feel that mobile trading will become popular gradually, just like Internet trading took off in the 1990s. There seems to be a potentially big market in India, given its low mobile charges and relative underpenetration of PCs.
All the leading broking houses are now offering mobile trading platforms. Asia's oldest bourse, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), was the first stock exchange to offer this facility, in September this year, through its network of stockbrokers. The National Stock Exchange (NSE), too, has kicked off its mobile trading platform. Sharekhan, Motilal Oswal, ICICI Direct and IndiaInfoline are among the host of brokerages offering this service.
How it works
It is an extension of the Internet-based trading platform - from a desktop or a laptop to a mobile handset. A user just has to download a customised application from a stockbroker's portal to his mobile to start trading on the BSE and the NSE. The trading application is customised for a mobile screen. You can see your orders, demat balance and also prices of stocks live on your mobile screen.
What it costs the investors
There are no separate charges for downloading an application on the phone. But investors need a Javaenabled phone with a GPRS connection or a smartphone to run the application. The subs c r i p t i o n charges for GPRS are as low as Rs 199 a month , which a mobile user has to pay to the mobile service provider. Investors without a trading account have to open a three-in-one account (demat, broking and a bank a/c) with a broking house where they have to pay the normal account opening charges.
The road ahead
The exchanges are hoping that a mobile trading platform will drive the penetration of the equity markets in smaller towns and cities. There are already close to 700 million mobile connections in India, but only nine million demat accounts. With 3G services around the corner, trading through your mobile will become faster and more convenient.
Global experience
Mobile trading is a new phenomenon globally. Analysts feel that mobile trading will become popular gradually, just like Internet trading took off in the 1990s. There seems to be a potentially big market in India, given its low mobile charges and relative underpenetration of PCs.
