Wanna play on Dalal Street? Get fingerprinted

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" justify="">BANGALORE: Next time you invest in equity shares worth over Rs 1 lakh, make sure you fingerprint the application. Sounds scary?<br /><br />After PAN (permanent account number), MAPIN (Markets Participants and Investors Identification Number) is a must for financial investors.<br /><br />Unless you have registered your fingerprint with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, you can’t play on Dalal Street or buy, sell or invest either in equity shares or in equity mutual funds at your will.The stock broker too will bar you from transactions. Even if your investments have been made in the past, there is no respite if the amount involved is more than Rs 1 lakh. Reason: SEBI, the watchdog, is keeping tabs on your transactions.<br /><br />According to SEBI, the rationale is to bring in some order in markets and gradually build database of investors. Currently, PAN should be quoted in financial transactions of upwards of Rs 50,000. Now, SEBI has decided to x-ray Indian investors on its own and hence introduced the MAPIN regime. Initially, SEBI had fixed a deadline of March 31 for investors to obtain MAPIN, but recently extended it to December 31.<br /><br />Apart from address and identity proof, a MAPIN applicant has to provide fingerprint at the time of registration. SEBI has authorised six broking and financial intermediaries like Karvy and Kotak Securities for issuing MAPIN for a fee of Rs 300. Since the imported machinery involved is expensive, there are only a handful of authorised agents.<br />Transactions of Rs 1 lakh may not really look so out of the bounds if current market trends continue. There are a good number of companies with share prices hovering around Rs 1,000. To buy or sell such shares in the hundreds, MAPIN is the only gateway.<br /><br />Also, the reforms-driven finance minister has just allowed you to invest in tax-saving equity funds up to Rs 1 lakh. Such a transaction is possible only with MAPIN.<br /><br />Many broking firms have been mandated to issue MAPIN but it’s not compulsory that broker and MAPIN issuer should be the same. Some issuers led by Kotak Securities are planning investor camps across the country.</div> </div>