In a statement, DPAI president V D Aggarwal said a web server for Internet scrip trading alongwith its accessories would cost not less than Rs 50 lakh. This amount is beyond the reach of brokers and thus Internet trading becomes a costly option.

He stated that with demat a reality, by March next year, more than 2500 scrips would be mandatorily traded in demat segment. ``To handle such a volume of business, demat participants have to open offices across the country. This is possible only when cost effective infrastructure for opening their offices or franchise arrangements are created,'' he said.

In addition, the high cost for import of technology, hardware and software appliances related to the Internet trading and an acute shortage of technology personnel who can operate these instruments, are making matters worse. ``Because of the mis-match between demand and supply of the technology personnel, there is a high degree of mobility of these personnel putting the brokers into a quandary. Also, non-availability of trained people results in unintended frauds and technical lapses,'' he observed.

Pleading for zero import duty for technology import as also for hardware and software imports relating to Internet trading, Aggarwal said this could bring down the infrastructure cost. It is necessary to create an Internet backbone of facilitate Internet script trading. Otherwise, this segment will remain with some handful brokers/DP.

Aggarwal also spoke of the problems relating to availability of V-sat connection and dedicated lines. It takes almost two to three months to get a V-sat connectivity and almost the same time span, if not more, for getting a dedicated line. ``In a fast changing Internet-induced competitive environment, no DP/broker can afford to keep his operations at standstill for this length of time. It would considerably erode his business prospects,'' he said. Added to this, is the frequent breakdown of the lines, which also affect the connectivity.