A decision to this effect was taken at the market operation committee meeting held on March 3. Following the deliberations of the committee, it has been decided to advance the pay-out to Saturday. It may be recalled that currently the pay-out of securities is done on Monday.

Further the exchange has also decided to debit brokers' bank accounts on Thursday instead of the prevalent practise of debiting member bank accounts on Friday.

The new system would however be implemented from settlement number 1 which starts on March 22 on the BSE.

Confirming the move, executive director of BSE, RC Mathur explained that the exchange has decided to take a step forward in this direction as the much needed organised form of electronic fund and securities transfer is in place.It may berecalled that currently pay-in of securities is scheduled between Wednesday and Friday. "Securities are accepted on Wednesday, Thursday and upto 12 noon on Friday. However brokers who deliver the securities on Friday are required to pay a late fee. The reconciliation process is then done on on Saturday and the payout follows on Monday," said a BSE director.

According to the committee, the move follows suggestions put forth by Sebi in the light of about 50 per cent of the deliveries already coming in the demat form. "Moreover with the regulator aiming at bringing in over 90 per cent of the securities in the compulsory demat list by the end of the millienium the exchanges are also gearing up to meet the challenges, " he added. In a demat environment the exchanges and the clearing house need not invest time in reconciliation process as the securities are delivered in the demat form hence crediting and debiting of accounts have also become easier, unlike the manual practise of matching trades. Moreoverexchanges now need not face the risks and complexities associated with handling paper, which comes from across the nation as BSE has its BOLT terminals operate from over 40 cities. Further, it would now be easier for the exchange to even move in the direction of T+5 trades as the clearing house need not spend enormous amounts of time and resources, both financial and managerial, to move documents across the length and breadth of the country just to complete settlement.