CSE president Chacko Kallivayalil told The Financial Express here that the exchange is racing ahead to meet the June 30 deadline set by Sebi to be Y2K compliant. The security market watch dog has directed all the exchanges in the country to achieve the crucial technical qualification for avoiding any breakdown of trading activities on the bourses. Sebi, it is reported, is even mulling suspension of trade in those exchanges which fails to meet the crucial deadline.

The CSE president said that the exchange management hasopened talks with hardware and software vendors to upgrade the systems to meet the deadline. Global majors Siemens and Digital are among the others who have supplied the necessary equipment to the bourse for its electronics trading system, Cochin Online Trading (COLT). The software was developed by the public sector major CMC.

CSE president said the bourse will not incur any additional expenditure for achieving the compliance as it comes under the head of annual maintenance contract (AMC).

CSE president added that the exchange has, for the time being, put on hold its proposed branching out to the city suburbs of Kochi. This follows the latest decision by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to revise the tariff rates. The new tariff policy is expected to benefit the exchange as it would bring down the lease fee for dedicated lines to be hired by the exchange for setting up COLT terminals in the city suburbs. The exchange has also plans to branch out to the other parts of the state as part of its longterm expansion plan. The exchange would spread its wings to the city suburbs once the new rate comes into force, the CSE president said.He said the exchange management has also going ahead with the proposal to set up a Trade Guarantee Fund (TGF). The CSE members had earlier approved the management's proposal to put a part of its real estate property on the block for raising funds to set up the TGF