The planned collaboration between India's National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) received regulatory approval last week for trading stock index-based products from Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT).
NSE-SGX Connect, under discussion for several months now, will soon become operational as regulators have given the project the green light.
This joint initiative would allow NSE's India-related products offered on SGX such as the Nifty futures contract, based on the NSE's Nifty 50 index, to be executed in GIFT, a financial center being developed in the western India state of Gujarat.
«It will give a boost to GIFT and SGX's role in the Indian financial market, as India is rapidly moving towards a USD 5-trillion economy,» India Embassador to Singapore Jawed Ashraf said at the opening of trading at SGX on Monday as part of the SGX's 20th anniversary celebration, «Connected to India» reported.
India-Singapore Links
In his speech, the envoy said that SGX has had close links with India, as almost 85 percent of India's external commercial bonds and the majority of Masala bonds are listed on the exchange, which also trades in Nifty and rupee derivatives, the publication reported.
SGX president Muthukrishnan Ramaswami also noted India's importance as a market for the bourse, pointing out that there are almost 200 debt securities from over 100 Indian issuers listed on the SGX, totaling $80 billion.
