The Hindu Business Line : `Bourses equipped to implement transaction tax'

STOCK exchanges are fully prepared and equipped to implement the proposed securities transaction tax (STT) that is to come into force from a date to be notified by the Central Government.

"We are waiting for the President's assent on the Finance Bill. The stock exchanges are ready to implement the STT. After the enactment of the Finance Bill 2004, the STT would come into effect from the date notified by the Centre for this purpose," a senior Finance Ministry official told Business Line here.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Mr G.N. Bajpai, foresees "consolidation" as a future trend among the trading platforms in the country. "Margins are getting thinner. Customers are expecting more," Mr Bajpai said.

He also said that the future of intermediation depends on the value-addition that intermediaries are going to provide. "Customers are not going to pay unless they get value. Tomorrow's client is going to ask for financial solutions and there is need for more financial product innovation centres in the management schools and colleges of the country," he said.