The drama surrounding extended trading hours refuses to die down with the Association of National Stock Exchange Members of India (ANMI) saying it is still hopeful that stock exchanges will put off the planned extension of trading hours from January 4.
However, the broking community is taking no chances, pulling out all stops for kicking off trading at 9 am on Monday morning.
Dealers will be coming in to work as early as 7 am and there are no dealer headcount increases on the cards. That call will be taken only if there is a significant growth in business.
The back office staff of mid-sized and large brokerages will now work in three shifts from 6 am onwards and some brokerages like ICICI Securities are looking to ease the stress for employees by arranging bus pick-ups.
Jigar Lodaya, associate VP of Sharekhan, said, "On the dealing side we will now have to come in an hour early at around 8 am. As far as our back office is concerned, they will need to be in office much earlier at 6 am and up till late at night. So we have come up with a three shift system."

At the losing end are clearly the small brokers with multitasking employees and they will need to increase their staff strength, a move that could push up costs by 25 per cent.
Pratik Shah, sub broker at Anand Rathi Securities, said, "Earlier the same person would do both dealing and back office activities—dealing in the day and back office post market hours. Now that won't be feasible. We will need to get more staff. We hope the rise in volume is proportionate to the increase in cost."

Meanwhile, the human angle cannot be ignored. Brokerages will now have to be open for business as early as 7 am and in a city like Mumbai, where distances are big and travel time eats off a large part of peoples' daily lives, it is bound to increase the stress levels.