He added that if the board decided to take up the issue again, it would have to first seek the approval of the brokers. These brokers are adamant on not allowing BSE terminals to be set up in Delhi as would directly affect their business. BSE president Anand Rathi, who was in New Delhi recently, said talks were on between the bourses, but no decison had been reached yet. "We met the DSE officials on Monday, but the talks remainedinconclusive," said Rathi.

According to the Sebi norms, a bourse cannot set up its terminals in cities where there is a stock exchange, unless the two bourses sign an MoU allowing inter-exchange terminals. In the absence of a formal agreement between BSE and DSE, a few BOLT terminals have been set up outside the territorial boundary of Delhi -- in places like Noida and Gurgaon.

Sources in the broking community say if big exchanges like BSE are allowed to have terminals in cities with existing stock exchanges, it would put these exchanges at a disadvantage.BSE has an inter-exchange terminal MoU with the Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE).

Both BSE and DSE have initiated efforts to expand and set up trading terminals across the country. DSE has already installed its DOLT terminals at over 40 locations and has, in hand, permission to set up DOLT terminals in another 75-80 locations.

Sources said following some problems in VSAT supply, the bourse could not set up terminals in several places for close to a sixmonths. Now that the problems have been rectified, DSE expects to add another 50-60 DOLT terminals in the next few weeks.