Nearly a year after it was introduced, same-day or T+0 settlement, has little to no takers.
In the past 224 days, both NSE and BSE have seen 83 and 56 trades, respectively, with the total value of trades at ₹7.1 lakh and ₹3 lakh, respectively.
The beta version of the same-day settlement was rolled out in March last year with 25 scrips to begin with. The activity so far has been restricted to token trades, resulting in low volumes, and few brokers offering the settlement facility.
- Also read: Bourses defer T+0 settlement pilot for institutional clients
Volumes remain low
“T+0 settlement volumes remain low due to liquidity concerns, limited broker readiness, and low institutional participation. Traders prefer T+1/T+2 for better price discovery and leverage,” said a senior broker.
“Only 25 securities were eligible for same-day settlement. This was offered only by qualified stock brokers, most of which were not ready with their systems and had put in a stop-gap arrangement to enable the platform,” added another broker.
In December, SEBI enhanced the scope of optional T+0 settlement to include top 500 scrips in terms of market capitalisation in a phase-wise manner starting January 31. This is in addition to the 25 scrips already available for trading. The regulator also allowed all stock brokers to participate in the optional T+0 settlement cycle. Brokers will be permitted to charge differential brokerage for T+0 and T+1 settlement cycles, effective January 31, 2025.
“Going forward, T+0 settlement may become more popular among traders rather than investors. This will take time, however, as the present liquidity is very low. The traders are in a wait and watch mode,” said Kranthi Bathini, Director of Equity Strategy at WealthMills Securities.
T+0 settlement cycle allows shares or money to be credited in the investor’s account on the trade day itself.