Historic Madras Stock Exchange set to re-create glory

Chennai, Mar 7 (UNI) It pales in comparison with its richer cousins -- Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE)-- in trade volumes and awareness. But the 85-year-old Madras Stock Exchange (MSE) is all set for a makeover with an eye on upping the volume of business.

Once a leading operator of the stock market, volumes on the MSE had fallen to almost nil from February 20, 2007, with the market and tech savvy BSE and NSE walking away with the honours.

Adding to woes, traders were also reluctant to conduct business on MSE's upgraded stock trading platform which was currently below par compared to other leading stock exchanges.

To reverse the trend and put the stock exchange back on track, the MSE has come out with a comprehensive blueprint on implementing high-tech stock trading platform in tune with the latest guidelines issued by the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and meeting global standards.

''The MSE Board is working on a new proposal to give a facelift to the existing trading platform, especially to attract SMEs across the country,'' MSE Board Director V Nagappan told UNI.

''As part of the revamp, MSE will install new software to streamline business and make it more profitable in internet era,'' he added.

The board is focusing on making the new system more stable and secure to avoid any glitches and to be faster than the current system.

It was also working to make it more flexible and robust to provide scope for listing a wider variety of products and to ensure that trading can be continued without halts, he said.

''We hope to be operating a system incorporating all these elements before 2008,'' he said adding the board will hold extensive discussions with market participants to ensure its goals and ambitions for the new system match those of its customers.

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