GOING SHORT

The T+O settlement cycle brings with it many benefits, including cost and time efficiency

- ASHISH RUKHAIYAR

MADHABI PURI BUCH, the first woman chief of India's capital markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), is not known for pulling punches. If proof was needed of that trait, there was her speech at the CII Corporate Governance Summit on April 2.

"There was a time when we, as Indians, used to sit in the last row of global forums. Today we sit centre stage... People turn to India and ask us for guidance and advice. We sit there as panellists in discussions. We are not in the last row. We are sitting in centre stage, receiving awards and giving guidance to the rest of the world on how we have implemented cutting-edge technology."

That statement came less than a fortnight after Sebi approved the T+o settlement cycle for stocks, a global first, and four days after a select set of 25 stocks went live with the facility on March 28, in the process putting the Indian equity market at the forefront of innovation in financial regulation.

"Our T+o was itself a global first; there was no other large market that had implemented it," she had said.

T+o refers to a mechanism wherein the shares or the sale proceeds of the shares-depending on whether it is a buy or sell transaction are credited to the demat or the bank account on the day of the transaction. For other stocks, the credit occurs the day after the transaction, or T+1.