Jaipur, Dec 16: The broking fraternity of the Jaipur Stock Exchange (JSE) is in a tight spot following fleeing of their clients totally from the market and the enormous losses occurred in their own trading operations. They are now more worried as the market is showing no immediate sign of recovery.

``The business has come to a naught with a steep fall in the exchange of deliveries'' say brokers. Faced with a grim situation, the JSE member's Welfare Society is up in arms and has urged the exchange management to take some concrete steps to wriggle out of the present crisis. In fact, the society has asked the exchange management to sell off the new building complex so as to improve its weak finances.

On the building premises, already a sum of Rs 23.96 crore has been spent and the exchange has to shell out another Rs 5 crore to make it functional. ``We are not averse to selling the building totally or partially,'' says R C Goenka, president of JSEL. However, finding a customer is a problem as the real estate business is also in the dumps.

The AGM of JSEL had approved selling of 2 lakh sq ft of the building area and retaining 65,000 sq ft for its own use. However, the members are now for selling the entire building complex which is now nearing completion.

The broker community now admits that for a small exchange like JSEL with low volumes of business, taking up such a big building project is not advisable. At present, JSEL is conducting its operations from the rented portion of the Rajasthan Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the prestigious MI Road.

For Goenka, the challenge is indeed serious as the odds he is facing are many. When he was elected to the coveted post a few months back, it was generally believed that he would take immediate remedial measures to set things right. Although he has taken some steps towards improving the trading volumes, the prevailing market scenario has created a roadblock.

``The market should improve once the political uncertainty is over,'' he believes. Much will also depend on how the FIIs behave in the changing political atmosphere.

Goenka is working overtime to make the newly formed Inter-connectivity Stock Exchanges of India Ltd a success. JSEL has already become a member of ISE with 13 other stock exchanges extending their support to it.

All the members of JSEL, says Goenka, will become members of the ISE which will have a national network on the lines of NSE. According to Goenka, the average daily turnover of the ISE will be around Rs 400 crore to begin with. The ISE will have 1000 terminals initially with JSEL getting 200.

The members, however, are now hardly showing any interest in ISE due to liquidity crunch and dwindling trading volumes. ``Unless the clients return in full measure nothing will happen,'' says Sunil Godha, director of JSEL. The clients will return only when their investments in stocks begin to pay off.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.