Nigerian Observer Forum

  Real Estate Boom due to Infrastructure Development

March 30, 2012

Today Kochi is characterized by towering buildings in many localities. It is now in the limelight and is known to be one of the actively emerging cities. There are a number of projects that are likely to transform the city into a key center of development in South India. It is emerging as an emerging hub of IT and sea based industries and an estimated investment of Rs 25,000 crore, both public and private, is in the pipeline. An investment of Rs16,000 crore in and around Kochi over the next five years have been sanctioned.

The projects in Vypin island would play an important role in the development of Kochi as many important projects have been proposed there. Another very important flagship project of Kochi is the Vallarpadam International Container Terminal (VICT). For this project a road is being built and work on a rail link is also in progress. The project is being constructed by Dubai Port International and the DPI is now operating the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal. The project is estimated to cost about Rs1800 crore. The setting up of the first port based special economic zone will be a major turning point in the development of not only Kochi but the whole of Kerala. Another major project is the LNG terminal. The second LNG project proposed to set up at Puthuvype will greatly help the development of Kerala and the industries in South India.

Due to the development of these projects the real estate in Kochi has reached new heights. Also in areas like Tripunitura, Kakkanad and Vypin island the land prices have rocketed by around 500 percent.

  Towards greater transparency in pay-in and pay-out

December 27, 2010

While effect from 22 December 1997, the bank accounts of brokers maintained with the Bank of India, Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) branch, the only clearing bank at that time, were directly debited through computerized posting on the pay-in day for their settlement dues.  The list of clearing banks has since been expanded to include Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Bank Ltd, Global Trust Bank Ltd, and Standard Chartered Bank.

The securities, as per delivery orders issued by the BSE, are to be delivered to the clearinghouse on the day designated for pay-in, i.e., on Wednesday and Thursday as per prescribed time slots up to 1.00 PM.  No late delivery of shares is permitted.  Brokers have to deliver the securities in special closed pouches issued by the BSE along with the relevant details (distinctive numbers, scrip code, quantity, receiving broker name etc) on a floppy.

The data submitted by the brokers on floppies is matched against the master file data on the clearinghouse computer systems.  If there are no discrepancies, then a scroll number is generated and a scroll slip is issued.  The brokers can then submit the securities at the receiving counter.  The clearinghouse personnel arrange and tally the securities received against the receiving broker-wise report generated on the pay-in day.  Once this reconciliation is complete, the bank accounts of brokers having pay-in positions are debited on Thursday.  This procedure is called pay-in.

The receiving brokers collect the securities on a Friday and the accounts of the brokers having payout are credited on Saturday.  This is referred to as payout.  Such a stringent trading process was initiated to ensure transparency and also to help the common man to be in touch with the various developments in the financial market.  When commodity trades became popular, the same approach has been initiated by the regulatory authorities, but with certain modifications.