The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Bank of India (BOI) and BOI Shareholding Limited (BOISL) are pleased to announce that BOISL has matched the internationally endorsed quality system as per the ISO requirement, thus becoming the first Clearing House in India to be ISO 9001:2000 certified.

The certification will be received by Shri. K.V. Krishnamurthy, Chairman and Managing Director, Bank of India and Chairman, BOISL at the BSE Convention Hall on October 30, 2002. Justice D. R. Dhanuka, Non-Executive Chairman, BSE would be the Guest of Honour.

"In an increasingly competitive global as well as domestic market place, standard of quality, social accountability and environment safety are issues critical in running a successful business. Indeed a Quality Assurance System through the ISO 9000 system will pay dividends in the long run. The ISO certification is a step towards Total Quality Management and achieving continuos improvement in services," says Mr. K.V. Krishnamurthy, Chairman and Managing Director, Bank of India and Chairman, BOISL. He adds, "The Institution is determined to provide an error free, efficient, seamless environment to the Indian capital markets. BOISL has been responsible for providing new products in the Indian capital market and extends a full gamut of services to Clearing Members (CM) of BSE, such as Direct Payout (through this facility a CM can transfer directly shares to his client at the time of payout), Auto Delivery Order (through this facility the CM need not give the payin instruction to their DP for settlement related operations as the order is generated electronically) and Depository Services."

Senior officials from BSE and Bank of India including Shri O.N. Singh, Executive Director Bank of India, Smt. Deena Mehta, Governing Board Member, BSE, Shri S. T. Gerela, CEO-Clearing & Settlement, BSE would be present at the function.

BOISL is also an approved intermediary for the Securities Lending Program (SLP) of the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI). BOISL, with the assistance of BSE, would shortly be launching a customized SLP for the members of the Exchange, which shall give a fresh impetus to the capital markets.

BOISL is a tech-savvy Institution, committed to adopting state-of-the-art technology. The Clearing House has played an active role in implementation of various reforms introduced in the capital market including shifting from physical to rolling settlement, T+5 and T+3. In fact, it is geared for the proposed T+2 and T+1 settlement.

Since 1921, BOI was undertaking clearing activities for BSE. The physical and money settlements for 'A' group shares and money settlements for 'B' group shares were handled by BOI's staff manually for a number of years. In 1986, BSE witnessed tremendous increase in volume of business and therefore requested BOI to consider computerisation of Clearing House. Besides, it was also felt that the computerised clearing and settlement services could be extended to other stock exchanges as well. It was therefore decided to meet the challenges ahead more effectively by forming a new entity named BOI Shareholding Ltd. (BOISL), which was set up as a joint venture of BOI and BSE with a capital contribution ratio of 51: 49.

B. Subramani
Managing Director

October 30, 2002
Place : Mumbai