Stock exchanges to start mobile trading from October

Mumbai: As the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has cleared the way for use of wireless technology in securities trading, stock exchanges are all set to start mobile trading from early October. All registered brokers will be able to trade from anywhere in the country through their mobile phones. Apart from this, clients can also place orders, view positions and view trades, reports K. Raghavendra Rao of Business Line.

Mobile trading will be facilitated on NOW software which will be provided free by NSE to its brokers, the exchange said. It further added that the market data will also be provided free on the brokers' cell phones.

There are two main counts on which the exchanges need to emphasize while testing the readiness of every technology, one is the strength of the data transfer process between the client and the server and the other one is the usage of the digital signature certificate. The digital signature certificate is the only legally valid digital certification approved by the Information Technology Act.

The major vendors of this technology include Financial Technologies, 3i Infotech, Omnesys and Technova Religare.

According to Ravi Jagannathan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, 3i Infotech Consumer Services, only after obtaining a digital signature certificate, an investor can transact using his handset. It will take at least 10 days for the implementation of this system and in three-four years, around 40 percent of retail investors could be transacting using this mode, he added.

Investors who possess a digital signature certificate will be provided a small device called the crypto-token (a small pen drive), which will contain the private key to be used while placing an order. The server would immediately be able to recognize whether the transaction has originated from an authentic person or not by recognizing the private key.

Brokers, on their part, are also ready to offer these services to their clients. Brokers have to shell out cost of platform installation while usage costs would be borne by the client. 

Source - http://tinyurl.com/326ekv2