September 17, 2012

Press Release No. 1

NSE announces revision in leased line & VSAT charges

· Move to benefit members, especially small and medium members

The Exchange has always endeavored to enhance the trading experience of the member brokers by providing world class products and technology in a cost-effective manner. With this objective in mind, NSE has been continuously reducing costs for members by optimizing the cost of existing modes of connectivity or by introducing new or innovative modes of connectivity, while continuing to offer cutting edge technology.

In a move to benefit members and investors, today, NSE is pleased to announce a lowering of connectivity costs for VSATS and leased lines. This initiative has been taken, especially to address the requirements of small and medium sized members, by bringing down their connectivity costs.

It has been decided to lower the annual recovery charges for “A” category (40 messages) entry level leased line and “S” category (Connect2nse, which provides exchange related services including clearing and settlement and risk management services ) leased line by 50% i.e. from the existing Rs.1 lakh per annum to Rs.50,000 per annum, with effect from October 01, 2012.

The Exchange has also reviewed VSAT recovery charges to its members, which have been reduced by almost 65% from the existing Rs. 1 lakh per annum to Rs. 36,000 per annum, for VSAT (Option I) and reduced by almost 76% to Rs. 23,500/ per VSAT per annum for VSAT option 2, with effect from February 01, 2013, post the necessary government approvals. These two VSAT options will have different service level arrangements.

MD and CEO of NSE, Mr. Ravi Narain said’’ we have been providing world class technology and different options for connectivity to members in rural areas, smaller cities and the metros, at very affordable prices. This decision will further help member brokers to expand their reach and grow their business by getting more retail clientele.’’

NSE is keen that in difficult times, the burden of fixed overhead costs is brought down for member brokers. It has also always been NSE’s endeavour to pass on benefits of cost efficiency to its members and the investor community. Today’s move also comes after several such announcements in the last decade and more, on reducing connectivity, infrastructure and trading costs. . In September 2009 the cost of a VSAT in a rural or semi-urban area was offset against transaction charges due from the member. This offset was also provided for leased lines in May 2010.

The exchange has also reduced transaction costs for member brokers several times, since its inception. In 1996, when the cash segment was introduced it was Rs. 10/- for a lakh of trade for any traded value, in 2000, it was brought down to Rs. 4/- for traded value above 800 crore and Rs. 7/- for traded value up to 200 crore. It was further brought down in 2005 to Rs. 3.50 per lakh of trade for any traded value and then again in 2009, it was brought down to Rs. 3.25 for a lakh of trade for traded value up to the first 1250 crore and Rs. 3/- for traded value above 15,000 crore

Charges have been brought down over the years in the futures and options segment as well. In July 2001, for both futures and options a fee was levied (after an initial waiver in 2000) at Rs. 2/- for a lakh of trade. In 2005, charges on options began to be levied on just the premium and not the traded value. In 2009, on futures fees was brought down to Rs 1.90 per lakh for traded value up to the first 2500 crore and Rs 1.75 for traded value above 15,000 crore.

The Exchange has been providing various modes of connectivity to its members and other market participants, namely, VSAT, leased lines, NOW, MPLS(which gives a different mode of connectivity for members in smaller cities) etc. Within leased line connectivity, the Exchange has provided multiple options to suit the varying needs of the members. Currently a large number of small and medium sized members connect to the Exchange, using either the “A” category (40 message) Leased Line or a VSAT. As stated above, the Exchange constantly endeavours to provide the most cost efficient mode of connectivity, to access the trading platform of the Exchange, especially keeping in mind the needs of its medium and small members.

This move comes after connectivity costs were reduced in 2009 and 2010, when the cost of the leased line or VSAT situated in rural and semi-urban areas was offset against transaction charges due from the member. This was done in September 2009, for VSATS and in May 2010, for leased lines.

The Exchange had introduced highly robust, reliable and resilient IP based trading network four years ago, with 12 Points of presence (POPs), three in Mumbai, two in Delhi, two in Kolkata, one each at Chennai and Ahmedabad, as well as in smaller cities like Rajkot, Jaipur and Kochi. These POP’s have reduced leased line charges for the up country members drastically. The network has also facilitated higher bandwidth of 2 Mbps, expansion in a cost effective manner, scalability and better uptime.

Press Release No. 2

Market-wide Position Limit in PANTALOONR

The derivative contracts in the underlying PANTALOONR have crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit on September 17, 2012. It is hereby informed that all clients/ members shall trade in derivative contracts of PANTALOONR by offsetting their existing positions till the open interest comes down to 80% of the market wide position limit.