According to the managing director of CDSL, PV Maiya, the depository plans to kick start its operations immediately after Sebi clears some of these DP applications. About 6 applications have been forwarded to Sebi for its approval, while the rest 49 applications are in its various stages of scrutiny.

Prominent among these DPs are the applications received from Stock Holding Corporation of India and IIT Corporate Services. Interestingly, about 51 applications are received from brokers.

"Brokers should be able to provide and convince their investors that it is a one stop shop," said BhagirathMerchant, former president of BSE, in the light of the services already provided by brokers and also emphasing that it would be easier for them to tap their upcountry clients.

CDSL has also received 45 letters of consent from companies who want to sign up with the depository and CDSL has already signed the agreements with 8 companies namely BSES, Siemens, Birla Global Finance, Larsen & Toubro, Dena Bank, Advani Orelikon, Cipla and Gujarat Ambuja.

The next tranche of companies will sign up with CDSL in next the 3-4 days. Interestingly, CDSL has kept its cost aspect within control and much below the charges imposed by the National Securities Depository (NSDL) which was the only depository offering demat facilities in India till recently."The system architecture enables the DPs to be cost effective and efficient in serving their investor clients as the set up cost would be low,'' explained Maiya, also highlighting that the depository plans to charge their DPs a minimum IT configuration charge of Rs 1.8lakh.

The DPs will be required to pay an initial deposit of Rs 5 lakh and an annual VSAT cost of Rs 1.20 lakh. Capital expenditure for the hardware is pegged at Rs 1.84 lakh, with the one time joining fee would be Rs 20,000. On the insurance front, the depository has secured a comprehensive insurance of Rs 50 crore per incident with unlimited reinstatements.

In the light of the various clearances awaited from the DoT, CDSL has proposed a unique plan which would enable the two depositories to exchange vital information. For on-market settlements CDSL has proposed that such a system needs to be designed whereby depositories inform the clearing house or the clearing corporation of pay-in, the clearing house informs depositories of pay-out (of net transfers) and both depositories confirm net transfer to each other, and in turn depositories will complete deliveries to clearing member or the beneficial owner.

The depository has also envisaged a unique plan wherein the investors or beneficial owner's accountwill be directly credited or debited from the depositories end rather than via the DP route. However, this system would not be mandatory.

Similarly, CDSL also plans to provide investors of their statement of account directly from the depositories, rather than from the DPs. This measure has been envisaged keeping in mind the likelyhood of some DPs who could manipulate the statement of accounts provided to the investors on a fortnightly basis.

The depository has set up its disaster recovery site in Sakinaka. The shareholding pattern of CDSL shows that BSE is the largest sponsorer with its contribution pegged at a shigh of Rs 66 crore. Banks like Bank of India, State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda have contributed Rs 10 crore each and HDFC Bank has sponsored Rs 5 crore. The total capital of the depository stands at Rs 101 crore.