It is learnt that CDSL has over the past fortnight had one-to-one meetings with several of the NSDL DPs urging them to enroll themselves as DPs with CSDL. It has also asked the clearing houses of stock exchanges including the National Stock Exchange (NSE) as well as share registrars to enroll themselves as clearing DPs.

To top it all, the proposed depository has recently made a presentation to association of NSE brokers, outlining the benefits of settling trades through the BSE depository. The BSE promoted depository has been on the cards for over two years nowand BSE officials are now optimistic of commencing operations shortly.

In its presentations to the DPs, CDSL has basically relied on two features of its depository as a mode to hardsell it to prospective DPs. The first is its decision not to levy any custody charge and the second to keep the transaction charges much lower.

NSDL charges a custody charge of 2 basis points per annum to its DPs. CDSL says that it would levy a transaction charge of 0.025 per cent as against 0.050 per cent charged by NSDL on purchase transactions.

However, a depository participant who had attended a presentation said that the CSDL plans to levy the transaction charge on a gross basis while NSDL levies the charge only on the net transaction. This could make a major difference, feel DPs.

On the custody charges front, DPs expect NSDL to bring this charges down further once CDSL becomes operational. Incidentaly, NSDL managing director CB Bhave has always maintained that custody charges are not relevant anymore as the benefitsof dematerialisation far outweigh that an investor pays as custody charge.

BSE, however, has right from the beginning felt that an investor would not feel comfortable with paying custody charges on his shares considering that he does not pay any charges currently for holding his shares in a physical form.

CDSL expects all the BSE members to move to its depository in any case and is therefore trying to tap the NSE brokers. When contacted, PV Maiyya, managing director of CDSL confirmed that the depository had commenced the exercise to tap existing DPs and had made presentations to some of the prominent ones. He said that presentations had also been made to a number of NSE brokers forming part of the NSE members association.