DSE's Second Coming

The Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE) is all set to begin its new innings from February. It'll start with equity trading and gradually scale up and enter the futures and options segment as well. Faced with dwindling volumes, the exchange was shuttered seven years ago. The exchange, though, is buoyed by soaring trading volumes on the NSE and the BSE. "The increasing volumes show that there is an appetite for 4-5 stock exchanges in the country. At present, almost 40 per cent of NSE volumes come from north India," says H.S. Sidhu, Executive Director & CEO, DSE.

Exchange officials are now working overtime to woo back old trading members. DSE is doling out heavy discounts on deposit-based trading memberships. Moves are also afoot to ensure liquidity in the 2,833 listed companies—as many as 1,800 are exclusively listed on the exchange. DSE is in the process of taking approval from SEBI to introduce the marketmaking mechanism to improve their liquidity.

Despite the grand plans, clearly, it's going to be an uphill task for DSE to become a vibrant platform for equity trading again at a time when big daddy NSE has a stranglehold over the Indian stock markets.

THE GAMEPLAN

Undercut NSE's Market Share: Delhi alone accounts for 20 per cent of NSE's volumes and DSE hopes to gradually nibble into its market share.

Retain Trading Members: DSE offers steep discounts on trading memberships— Rs 13 lakh compared to NSE's Rs 3 crore and BSE's Rs 1 crore.

Revive Liquidity on Listed Companies: Through market-making, which offers two-way quotes given by jobbers.