Positions have reduced over the last three weeks as prices of pivotals fell sharply in the wake of an aggressive campaign launched by the income tax department to mobilise advance tax from the top brokers in major bourses.

According to a leading CSE broker, the collections from top brokers has already crossed Rs 300 crore against an earlier estimate of Rs 150 crore given by the department. Calcutta alone has contributed close to Rs 50 crore to the amount mopped up by the department.

At a time when funds for vyaj badla have dried up, the sharp reduction in badla rates from 80 per cent week before last to around 40 per cent today indicates that outstanding positions have been slashed heavily. A leading vyaj badla broker confirmed that the positions in his firm had come down by over 50 per cent in the last three weeks.