Following the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) decision to allow individual stock exchanges to start stock lending, the council of management of the Cochin Stock Exchange which met recently has decided to find ways for kick starting stock lending. The options under the active consideration of the CSE management are either to tie up with the Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd (SHCIL) or to start itself, said Chacko Kallivayalil, Cochin Stock Exchange president here on Monday.

The firstproposal may help the bourse to commence the stock lending soon with only a nominal financial commitment. However, to offer the stock lending facility of its own, CSE has to set up a trade guarantee fund (TGF).

Sebi stipulates a full-fledged guarantee fund as a precondition for starting the stock lending facility, the CSE president said. Under the Sebi guidelines, the bourse requires at least Rs five crore to put up the TGF. ``The management is working out on the proposals and a decision will be taken after the EGM,'' Chacko Kallivayalil said.

In a related development, the council of management of bourse has also decided to call an extra ordinary general body meeting of its members to hive off nearly 50 acres of its property in Kochi suburbs to raise finances for setting up TGF. Besides kicking off the share lending facility, TGF helps the bourse to take membership in NSDL and starting trade in electronic shares of its own. Currently, the exchange is doing demat trading in collaborating with SHCIL.

Thecouncil of management of the bourse has also decided to lease out Colt terminal to individual brokers in a bid to branch out to secondary switching areas. The decision permits members to have Colt terminals at their offices located in the suburbs of Kochi and also in Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram, where the bourse is having authorised investor servicing centres, Chacko Kallivayalil said.