From private taxis for staff to accommodation near office premises – bourses implement measures amid COVID-19

Leading bourses NSE and BSE have implemented their respective business continuity plans, including providing private taxis and accommodation nearby their office premises, as they deploy minimal staff amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The oldest bourse BSE -- which has its main offices on Dalal Street in South Mumbai and another BCP (Business Continuity Plan) office in Belapur nearby Navi Mumbai -- has massively cut down the number of key personnel at these offices due to the national lockdown.

“We have only 20-30 people working in these two offices now in the main shift. People in other two shifts are largely IT and operations people,” a BSE spokesman told PTI.

That apart, BSE has its disaster recovery site in Hyderabad which can take over in case systems in Mumbai are not accessible. There is a mili-second based synchronisation between production and DR site, the spokesman added.

According to the exchange, it has provided private taxis for some employees. "Many of the select employees are also staying in nearby hotels as per the BCP developed under Sebi regulations," he added.

On Monday, BSE said it has tied up with the civic bus operator BEST to offer daily morning and evening bus services dedicated for stock brokers and stock exchange staff from Borivali and Thane to the Fort headquarters.

The country's largest bourse NSE has also issued an advisory on the role of employees.

Accordingly, all the exchange employees have been divided into two categories -- those who can work from home and those have to work from the office premises.

The bourse conducted live-trading and other operations from its disaster recovery site on March 2 and 3.

MCX, which dominates the commodities exchange space by a wide margin, employs around 400 people and 300 of them are based at its headquarters in Mumbai.

"Since last Friday, 50 of our key employees have been working from the office. The office had made all the provisions, including their daily needs and stay in the exchange building itself," a senior exchange official said on Sunday.

"And to reward them monetarily for the risk they are taking, the management has decided to pay them at least double the salary to them. In some cases this may go up to 3 times,” the official had said.

RBI has also set up a war-room in Mumbai on March 9, well ahead of the national lockdown which was announced on March 24.