India's equity market is geared up to aid the country achieve the USD 5 trillion economy mark, SEBI Chairman Ajay Tyagi said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Ficci's 17th Annual Capital Market Conference 'CAPAM2020', Tyagi said the equity market systems are well geared up to take on the current challenges.
The theme of the conference is 'Atmanirbhar Bharat: Role of Capital Market'.
He acknowledged that the country is passing through a difficult, stressful and challenging time due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Besides, Tyagi called for the development of the country's corporate bond market.
Terming the segment as critical, he pointed that some initiatives in this regard have been taken, however, more reforms are required.
Tyagi said stock exchanges should move towards real-time settlement of trades through the use of blockchain technology. The exchanges should start the real-time settlement with a trial or on a pilot basis.
Currently, settlement happens in T+2 days. Here, T stands for the day of trade.
When asked about allowing 'work from home for brokers' permanently, Tyagi said it needs to be examined.
He said work from home is a temporary relaxation given to brokers. However, trading from home has worked successfully, so it can be examined and the downsides of this also need to be considered.
In March, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) permitted brokers and traders to take the trading terminals outside the authorised locations.
This was the first time brokers were given this facility in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
