Ahmedabad, July 29 While inaugurating the India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX) on Friday at the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), Gandhinagar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that the country, besides being known as a big market for gold and silver, should now also be recognised as a market maker in the bullion space.
“The Indians’ affection towards gold is not hidden from anyone. Gold has been a medium of economic strength for India’s women. And equally, an important part of our cultural and social heritage. Therefore, India today, is a very big market for gold and silver. Now, India’s should also be recognised as a market maker. IIBX is a step in that direction,” Modi said, adding that IIBX is a step towards building institutions that can cater to India’s role in the global markets - today, and in future.
A price influencer
IIBX, which currently has about 56 eligible jewellers onboard, aims to enable India become a price influencer for global bullion markets by facilitating efficient price discovery, standardisation, and sourcing integrity besides ensuring financialisation of gold in India.
Speaking on the IIBX, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said, “IIBX is a major step and India being the second largest consumer of gold, will now be able to command global prices. The second milestone getting inaugurated today is the NSE-IFSC and SGX Connect. IFSC shall work as the Connect i.e. to enable crossborder bridging so that capital markets have interoperability between India and Singapore.”
The PM also inaugurated the NSE-SGX Connect set-up in collaboration between National Stock Exchange and Singapore’s Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX).
Modi stated, “For us, integration is the biggest important agenda. Integration with global markets. In the global supply chains, we are fast integrating with them. And GIFT City, is an important gateway to connect with the global opportunities. When you will integrate with GIFT City, you will integrate with the whole world,” he said.
Under the NSE-SGX Connect, all orders on Nifty derivatives placed by members of SGX will be routed to and matched on the NSE-IFSC order matching and trading platform. The Connect will deepen liquidity in derivative markets at GIFT-IFSC, bringing in more international participants.
Currently, the average daily volume in Nifty Futures at SGX is 1.09 lakh contracts worth $3.65 billion.
27-storey building
Modi also laid the foundation stone for the headquarter of IFSC Authority (IFSCA), the unified regulator at GIFT-IFSC. The building that will have 27 floors will be built at a cost of ₹200 crore.
Meanwhile, IFSCA exchanged MoUs with four foreign financial regulators i.e. Monetary Authority of Singapore; Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, Luxembourg; Qatar Financial Centre Authority and Finansinspektionen, Sweden. The MoUs will facilitate exchange of information, sharing of best practices and capacity building.