It needs to be kept in mind that till the announcement, only overseas institutional players were allowed in capital market segment. Since foreign individuals are not permitted to open bank accounts in IFSCs under the existing Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, they were not able to participate in exchanges in GIFT City. There was a lack of clarity about the participation of Foreign retail investors, as well as non-resident Indians (NRIs), will now be allowed to invest in stock exchanges in GIFT City. Earlier, only FIIs were allowed in the capital market segment. These new guidelines are a step in the right direction, and we hope it will help make more business be operational on a larger scale from the IFSC.
On the other hand, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE) have set up India International Exchange and NSE – IFSC, their international exchanges at GIFT City to provide liberalized regulatory environment for trading in stock, commodity and currency derivatives. The announcement, which opens up stock exchanges in GIFT City for investments by foreign retail investors, as well as non-resident Indians (NRIs, needs to be appreciated from this perspective. Consider that GIFT IFSC recently clocked a turnover of $3 billion. Its average daily turnover is in the tune of $2 billion. Stock derivatives of BSE and NSE are the major contributor to the turnover.
GIFT City is a ‘work in progress’ story, which will end up working on par with IFSCs in Dubai, Singapore, London among others. The logic behind creating GIFT City is to create a level playing field for the Indian BFSI sector to compete with global players - one that ensures the Indian BFSI sector utilizes and lives up to its full potential.
