The Hindu Business Line : Many may miss SEBI deadline on unique ID number

The Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) has regulated that "specified intermediaries" including brokers should avail themselves of the UIN in order to continue market operations after March 31.

Of the 70,000-targeted registrations, only 2,778 corporates and 17,740 individuals have registered as of today.

Officials of both the Mumbai and the National stock exchanges are awaiting SEBI's directive on whether brokers and other intermediaries who have not got the UIN would be debarred or not.

"The pace of UIN registrations has increased over the last two weeks. People have become aware of the necessity of the requirement only lately. It is unlikely that all the required categories would have got the UIN by March 31, 2004," said Mr V.R. Narasimhan, Head - Administration and Marketing, National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL).

NSDL is the designated service provider of UIN.

According to brokers, there have been certain miscommunications and logistical difficulties in obtaining the UIN. "At the initial stages, the definitions were not clear in the legalese of the circular. We were not sure who all were expected to get the UIN," said Mr Abhishek Sindhu, an NSE broker.

The original guideline by SEBI required not just brokers but also their spouses, parents and children to provide biometric impressions of their left thumb, left index finger, right thumb and right index finger to NSDL. However, on March 19, a Delhi high court exempted their kin with no dealings in the capital market from obtaining the UIN.

Corporate brokers are required to get specific UINs for their employees as well. "This could lead to a lot of problems as employee turnover is quite high. Each time an employee leaves, we have to inform SEBI within 24 hours and obtain a new number for the replacement," said Mr Amit Dalal, a Mumbai-based broker. The fee for the obtaining the identification number is Rs 300 per application.

Despite repeated attempts, SEBI officials were not available to comment on the consequences of not obtaining UIN but stock exchange officials are "cautiously hopeful" for an extension.

"As per the SEBI circular, brokers will not be able to trade without UIN from Thursday. SEBI might temporarily debar non-complying brokers in order to drive home the seriousness of the exercise. Brokers have many reservations above the UIN," said a general manager at the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Other than brokers, collective investment schemes, portfolio managers, credit rating agencies, venture capital funds, depositories and others also have to comply with the requirement by March 31.

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