The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sped up the process of stock brokers getting approval from stock exchanges for internet-based trading to 7 days from the current 30 days.
The move aims to improve the ease of doing business in stock markets and “remove obsolete compliance requirements related to activities of market infrastructure institutions,” Sebi said in a circular on Thursday.
According to the rule, the broker is required to apply to the respective stock exchange for a formal permission to provide internet-based trading service. After which the relevant stock exchange is required to communicate its decision to the member, now within 7 calendar days, down from 30 days earlier.
Internet-based trading (IBT) means trading can take place through order routing systems, which will route client orders to exchange trading systems for execution. Thus, a client sitting in any part of the country can trade using the internet as a medium through brokers’ internet trading systems. Additionally, Sebi has removed the existing requirement of periodic confirmation of internet-based trading statistics by stock brokers before they are published by stock exchanges.
“It has been decided to do away with the existing requirement of periodic confirmation of IBT statistics by the stock brokers before they are published by the stock exchanges,” Sebi said.
Instead, exchanges would publish IBT statistics on the basis of details of IBT terminals provided by stock brokers. Further, exchanges, in this regard, can obtain information or declarations about IBT terminals from stock brokers as deemed fit by them.
