The former chairman of the ICMS steering committee and the present director on the ISE board, P C Shrimal, said a majority of the participating bourses were opposed to the uniform settlement system and would even keep away if the regulatory body insisted on it. The ISE members and the Sebi are slated to meet in Mumbai on Tuesday in a last ditch effort to sort out the issue and avert an embarassment or another postponement. ISE was originally expected to commence on January 27but could not for lack of a concensus on the uniform settlement.

Some of the major regional bourses have demanded for a modification of the clause on uniform settlement in the in-principal approval for the ISE as they maintain it would affect their volumes and individual brokers will not have the attraction of arbitrage. However, much would depend on the view taken by SEBI on the reported recommendation of Mayya committee on the uniform settlement which reportedly said that introduction of uniform settlement is neighter desirable nor feasible at present.

Of the 14 member exchanges, only MP, Rajkot, Mangalore and Coimbattore have shown interest in going ahead with the Friday inagural of the ISE despite the uniform settlement, Shrimal said. These exchanges have little to lose considering the volumes, said one of the senior participants in the ISE system. FISE, in its fourth general meeting at Hyderabad during 1996 had mooted the idea of having inter-connected stock markets in a run up to compete with theNSE and BOLT and appointed P C Shrimal the then president of HSE as convener of the committee. The ICMS committee had decided to set up a system linking all the regional exchanges facilitating trading activity between the exchanges. Responding to their proposal SEBI had advised FISE to promote a new exchange.

Finally, SEBI had given in-principle approval to the new exchange on Novermber 18, 1998. While giving the approval SEBI had put a pre-condition that the participating exchanges would commence the same trading and settlement cycle to that of ISE. The same was now being objected by the regional exchanges.

While expressing his opposition to uniform settlement system, HSE president Rajender Naniwadeker said that by implementing uniform settlement would result in drying up of business in the local exchanges. Further he said, it would amount to injustice to the brokers who have decided against joining ISE as of now. According to him, out of 2,500 and odd brokers from 15 exchanges only 20 per cent areexpected to participate in the ISE trading initially.