BSE launches India's first international stock exchange at Gift city

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated India's first international exchange - India INX - at International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Gujarat International Financial Tech City (GIFT) located in Gandhinagar.

India International Exchange (INX), the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), through its global bourse, will start trading initially in equity derivatives, currency derivatives, commodity derivatives including Index and stocks. Subsequently, depository receipts and bonds would be offered once the required infrastructure for the same is in place.

"The exchange will create new standards in quality of service and speed of transactions in different time zones," Prime Minister Modi said while opening the global exchange.

"I have been told that the international exchange would work for 22 hours a day. It will start when Japan exchanges begin and close when US markets end. The exchange will work from sunrise to sunset", he added.

''There has been criticism for long that a lot of trading, even in Indian financial instruments, is currently taking place abroad. It is said that India has stopped becoming the price setter for even some Indian financial instruments. Gift city will be able to mitigate many of these criticisms.

''But my vision for Gift City is larger. My  vision is that in ten years from now, Gift city should become the price setter for at least a few of the largest traded instruments in the world, whether in commodities, currencies, equities, interest rates or any other financial instrument.

India needs to create thirty crore new jobs over the next twenty years. It is a huge endeavour. Skilled and well-paying jobs in the service sector will have to be part of this job revolution. Indian youth can do it.  The international exposure which our youth will be able to get from Gift city will ensure that more and more of them will be able to join this important field. I urge Indian companies, exchanges and regulators, to help create a pool of experienced and world beating finance professionals. They can work out of this great new city and provide services to the entire world. Over next ten years, I expect this city to generate several lakh jobs.

Although the international exchange was inaugurated on 9 January, the trading operations are scheduled to begin on 19 January.

"India INX is one of the world's most advanced technology platforms with a turn-around time of 4 micro seconds. It will operate for 22 hours a day to allow international investors and non-Residents Indians to trade from anywhere across the globe," the exchange said in a statement.

"BSE is a pioneer in the world of financial services and India INX will act as a gateway to raise capital for the country's infrastructure and development needs. In parallel, it would provide cross-border opportunities of investment with a comparatively low cost of transaction in the world's most technologically advanced platform," said Sudhakar Rao, chairman, BSE, at the inauguration ceremony, which was also attended by Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani.