BOMBAY India's stock exchanges ground to a halt Monday as brokers went on strike to protest against changes being introduced by the market regulator. "Our strike is total. There are only a few stray trades going on," former Bombay Stock Exchange President Deena Mehta told AFP. Brokers in 23 exchanges across India were on strike, including the main Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta bourses. Mehta said brokers were protesting against changes in rules and trading practices being introduced by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). "We plan to hand over a memorandum later in the day to SEBI Chairman D.R. Mehta." Brokers said business volumes had fallen sharply over the past year as a result of the domestic economic downturn and several changes introduced by SEBI. Prem Kumar, former president of the Madras Stock Exchange, said brokers should have been consulted before the regulator announced the new measures. "We are also keen that Indian stock exchanges modernize their systems and practices, but we want everything to be introduced after proper debate. Right now, changes are being brought in by administrative orders." Kumar said during the past year, the value of the 150 most actively traded stocks had fallen between 50 percent and 95 percent, with volumes dropping off by as much as 80 percent. "If the regulatory changes had been introduced in consultation with us, the fall could have been cushioned," he added. Deena Mehta said SEBI's "reactive measures" would lead to huge business closures. "If these measures continue we will see lot of broking houses shutting shop. Business has come down sharply." Earlier this month SEBI banned the traditional system of carrying forward trades and brought in a system where trades have to be settled every five days.