PSE president Mohan Gujarati felt this was a logical step in improving the functioning of the stock exchange which is exploring possibilities of spreading its wings in Western Maharashtra. The first phase of WAN includes setting up an intra-city network for Pune Telecom district which is expected to be completed in the next three months. ``This will require an upgradation of the network,'' he said, explaining that they planned to use the telephone line technology route for this purpose. The first phase will require an investment of Rs. 50 lakh which will translate to around Rs. 2,500 per broker.

The second phase will involve going beyond the Pune Telecom district to connect eight centres in Maharashtra - Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad and Mumbai. Gujarati felt that opting for lease lines would be a cheaper alternative here. He expected a phenomenal change in the style and functioning such as computerisarion, demat trading since the equity cult was fast spreading among investors.

With the WAN in place, PSE will no longer require the mammoth space it has presently leased out at Deccan Gymkhana and said that they would form cubicles for brokers to operate out of the old premises at Shivleela Chambers. The PSE would save a sum of Rs. 1.20 crore as lease expenditure if they shift to their old premises. Of the total of 181 brokers, only 100 are presently operating. Of these 50 brokers have forwarded applications to the PSE for WAN.

PSE has already received approval from the SEBI for setting up a Trade Guarantee Fund (TGF), a pre-requisite before going in for the WAN system. The corpus of Rs. 5 crore of this fund will prevent any delay in pay-in and pay-out processes. PSE is the only exchange to have commenced pay-in and pay-out on the 7th day while SEBI stipulations mention a time period until the 8th day.

The president mentioned that a team has been sent to the Interconnectivity Stock Exchange on Tuesday to explore the possibilities of a link-up with them. With the dreaded D day arriving closer, PSE has initiated measures to ensure Y2K compliance. ``We have formed a panel of 12 software experts and all the brokers are required to obtain a certificate from them for Y2K compliance systems,'' he said. Brokers have been given a time period until August 31, 1999 for combating the Y2K bug. Gujarati said that five cards are due to be auctioned next month. The last card had fetched a price of Rs. 7.75 lakh.