Tech glitch halts NSE trading for 3 hours; Govt seeks report

The IPO-bound exchange 'deeply apologised' for the glitch even as trading went off smoothly at rival BSE where volumes surged.

Sources at the finance ministry said it was a technical problem that led to trading disruptions and there was no information about hacking.

Investors faced problems since morning in executing trade and the exchange stopped trading in cash as well as Futures and Options (F&O) segment.

After at least two attempts to set things right, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) resumed operations at 1230 hours but display issue persisted which was addressed later.

There have been instances earlier also when the NSE and the BSE have faced trading problems.

In a statement issued at around 1530 hours, the exchange said cash market segment did not function normally due to technical problem at the opening on Monday and was closed.

"F&O and CDS (Currency Derivatives Segment) market segments opened normally. Subsequently after giving notice to the market, the F&O segment was also closed," it said. Despite the chaos, the benchmark 50-share Nifty settled above the 9,700-mark for the first time.

Since morning, investors had faced problems in executing trade and later the exchange stopped trading in cash as well as F&O (Futures & Options) segments.

NSE's chief of business development Ravi Varanasi said that normal market operations resumed at 1230 hours and since then the system has been functioning fine.

"We are carrying out an internal review of the technical glitch," he said. The technical glitch in its trading system also comes at a time when the NSE is awaiting approval from the markets regulator Sebi for its Rs 10,000 crore IPO.

Besides, the watchdog is looking into the issue that the bourse had allegedly provided preferential access to some brokers.

Following the technical glitch, Sebi, in the afternoon, said it was closely monitoring the situation while the finance ministry has sought a report on the matter.

"NSE deeply apologises for the glitch. The matter is being examined by the internal technical team and external vendors, to analyse and identify the cause which led to the issue and to suggest solutions to prevent recurrence," it said in the statement on Monday.

Besides, the matter has been referred to the Standing Committee on Technology to review the problem and approve measures to prevent recurrence of such glitches.

Sources at the finance ministry said this sort of problem faced by the NSE is a serious concern and hoped that such situations do not happen again.

"Let's wait for the report. The NSE will send a detailed report to Sebi. The report will be sent to us through Sebi. We expect an interim report from Sebi by the end of the day," a source said.

The NSE has been the largest stock exchange in India in terms of total and average daily turnover for shares every year since 1995, as per Sebi data.

Epic Research CEO Mustafa Nadeem said the problem actually got worse when there was no clear statement or guidance from the NSE about the glitch and the clarification came late at around 1000 hours.

Leading bourse National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday sought clarification from rival BSE about a significant increase in the trading volume of its shares.

A total of 5,941 shares of BSE worth Rs 64.58 lakh were traded on the NSE.

BSE Ltd said that no price sensitive information is pending with it for furnishing to NSE.

"Significant increase in volume has been observed in BSE Limited. The exchange, in order to ensure that investors have latest relevant information about the company and to inform the market place so that the interest of the investors is safeguarded, had written to the company," NSE said. In its response BSE said that there is no such announcement or price sensitive information, which is pending to be intimated by the company to the stock exchange concerning its performance.

"We wish to reiterate and clarify that all the information furnished by the company is in public domain and the company will comply with Sebi Regulations and keep the stock exchanges duly informed of all the price sensitive information(s)," BSE said in a statement.