India's new stock exchange MCX-SX attracted thin volumes as it started trading shares on Monday, taking up the challenge of winning market share from dominant players National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange.

The value of shares traded on the MCX-SX in its first day was R69 lakh, its website showed, compared with R9,457 crore on the NSE.

"(The) earliest we can know whether MCX has made a mark in equities is five years from now," said Phani Sekhar, a fund manager at Angel Broking.

MCX-SX was formally launched by finance minister P Chidambaram on Saturday.

The base value for the index is 10,000 with a base year of March 2010, the exchange said.

The SX-40 will be a free-float-based index of 40 large-cap  stocks. The stocks included in the exchange have a free loat of at least 10% and a positive net worth.

Of the 700 members the bourse has signed up, registration of 405 have already been cleared by the regulator.

(Reuters and PTI inputs)