True to his fiercely independent style, Damani has done away with the concept of custody charges since CDSL's inception. His immediate concern is to ensure that there is no charge levied on inter-depository transfers, an issue which is the subject matter awaiting finalisation by a Sebi-appointed committee.

CDSL, promoted jointly by BSE and a clutch of banks and financial institutions, has decided to further lower transaction charges with effect from August 1, 2000. NSDL (National Securities Depository Ltd) had earlier announced its intentions to introduce its new rate structure from September 1, 2000. MG Damani claimed recently that he would overtake NSDL in terms of securities handled per settlement within the next two months. At present, he said, CDSL had 80 depository participants and 1200 companies against 140 DPs and 1300 companies associated with NSDL.

As on date, CDSL has about 50,000 investor accounts which is expected to go up to about 2 lakh in the next couple of months. Incidentally, NSDL with over four year history has over 28.5 lakh retail accounts and value of securities dematerialised over Rs 376,000 crore.

Damani maintained that CDSL was able to earn profits in the very first year of operations because of its low-cost structure and income from surplus funds of about Rs 70 crore. In the year to March 31, 2000 CDSL earned an income of Rs 11.42 crore on deployment of surplus funds at its disposal, he clarified.CDSL's profit after tax was Rs 4.29 crore on total income of Rs 13.23 crore. In the current year, CDSL's income generation is expected to shoot up on the back of higher volumes of business handled and a corresponding decrease in NSDL's volumes, Damani explained.