The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) Ltd is considering listing of Nifty futures or Nifty exchange traded funds in the US market, Ravi Narain, managing director and chief executive officer, said on Monday.
Currently, Nifty futures are traded on Singapore Stock Exchange and Nifty exchange traded funds are listed on London, Frankfurt, and Milan exchanges.
“The only significant market left out now is the US, and we are thinking about it,” Narain said.
Combined assets under management of Nifty ETF listed on London, Frankfurt, and Milan amounts to $400-500 million (Rs 1,600 crore -Rs 2,000 crore), Narain said.
Narain added that there were currently no plans for the exchange to go for initial public offer (IPO) or listing of the NSE stock on the exchange itself. “If there is a business case for listing, we will look at it. However, there is no proposal as of now,” Narain said.
Last week, Bombay Stock Exchange launched its futures on its 30-share benchmark index on US Futures Exchange in Chicago.
Narain expected direct market access that was allowed by Securities and Exchange Board of India to impact trading volumes in options positively.
Options trading requires constant monitoring by traders and direct market access provided to institutional investors that will lead to improvement in volume, he said.
Narain said he was optimistic that short selling by institutions would kick off by April 21– the deadline set by the capital markets regulator– as the exchange was ready with all required systems and mechanisms.
The short selling by the institutions will coincide with the payment of margins by the same set of investors.