A dynamic stock market landscape, with volatile swings as a result of geopolitical challenges and inflationary concerns across the globe, calls for robust technology. An impending General election and some structural changes in the marketplace, including a proposal for extended trading hours and same-day settlement, added to the mix, and the challenges for market players are multi-fold.
businessline spoke to Tejas Khoday, Co-Founder and CEO, FYERS, a broking and investing platform, on such challenges, the market outlook and dynamics in the near term and its readiness to face the headwinds. Edited Excerpts:
What is your outlook for the rest of the year, in the light of the general elections in April-May?
As we look ahead to the rest of the year, I’m optimistic about the market’s resilience and potential for growth despite the upcoming general elections in April-May. While elections often introduce short-term uncertainty, we believe India’s strong fundamentals and ongoing economic reforms will continue to drive investor confidence and market stability.
Given the strong competition, are you planning to spend more to upgrade your systems?
We constantly upgrade our tech stack, allowing us full control over its functionalities and ensuring optimal performance. One of the standout mechanisms we have is implementing a Disaster Recovery site. This backup server serves as a failsafe mechanism, enabling us to swiftly transition operations in the event of any unforeseen disruptions. By having this contingency plan in place, we prioritise the seamless execution of trades and uphold our commitment to providing a reliable and uninterrupted trading experience for our clients.
Given that technical glitches and outages are leading to losses for traders, is your system equipped to handle wild market swings?
We, at FYERS, constantly upgrade our technological infrastructure to mitigate the risk of technical glitches and outages, especially during periods of high market volatility. We have the lowest glitches in the industry and we are completely transparent about the glitches. We are the first broker in India to publicly disclose the availability status of our platform in near real-time through the FYERS Status dashboard. Our goal is to provide traders with a reliable and resilient platform that enables them to navigate volatile market conditions with ease.
What are your views on the proposal for T+0 settlement (same-day settlement)? How ready is FYERS, and if and when will it be implemented?
We will be ready by the time the T+0 trade settlement is implemented. It’s not just us that needs to be ready, the entire ecosystem, be it clearing corporations, exchanges, or banks, needs to be ready. Only then will the settlement take place smoothly. We are on track to being ready for the new system. While this creates additional compliance challenges, I think this is a step in the right direction to set new benchmarks among capital markets in the world.
What is your opinion on extended trading hours?
I firmly advocate for extending India’s stock market trading hours. Aligning our trading hours with international standards attracts global investment, enhances market liquidity, and enables timely responses to global economic events. While acknowledging the challenges, collaboration among stakeholders is crucial, along with technological and regulatory upgrades. A phased approach, starting with an extension to 6 p.m. to cater to a wider investor base, would be a good way to start off. This move could be the UPI movement for India’s financial markets, fostering innovation and inviting greater participation.