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India plans to launch trading of government bond futures within the next two months as part of efforts to deepen its financial markets,according to several sources involved in the discussions with the central bank.
These interest rate futures would help banks and financial firms in Asias third-largest economy assess expectations for borrowing costs and hedge the risks of rate changes to their bond portfolios. It would also provide the countrys policymakers with a valuable gauge to measure market expectations for their future rate decisions.
Although the plans are at an advanced stage,the sources said the Reserve Bank of India RBI has not yet finalised the structure of the product,which will allow investors to bet on the direction of interest rates. They declined to be identified publicly commenting on the closely-held discussions. Getting the structure right is critical for the central bank,which failed in two previous attempts in 2003 and 2009 because of what market participants have said were faulty designs.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has made deepening Indias financial markets a priority,in part to prevent trading of derivatives based on domestic products from shifting to overseas markets. In response to a query from Reuters,an RBI spokeswoman said: We are discussing the product with stakeholders.
