This exchange will facilitate efficient price discovery with the assurance of responsible sourcing and quality, apart from giving impetus to the financialisation of gold in India, a statement by the IFSC Authority said.
Ahmedabad:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit India’s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) near Gandhinagar on Friday.
During his visit, Modi will launch ‘India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX)’, the country’s first international bullion exchange, the Gujarat government said in a release.
This exchange will facilitate efficient price discovery with the assurance of responsible sourcing and quality, apart from giving impetus to the financialisation of gold in India, a statement by the IFSC Authority said.
India’s first global gold exchange also aims to create a regional bullion hub that will allow more jewelers to import the precious metal.
The India International Bullion Exchange is expected to attract dealers, refineries and foreign banks, Chief Executive Officer Ashok Gautam said in an interview this week.
The spot exchange will facilitate trade in the form of bullion depository receipts.
The bourse will allow qualified jewelers to directly import gold, a change from current rules where only some banks and nominated agencies approved by the central bank can do so.
That’s set to widen the importer base in the world’s second-biggest consumer, where the World Gold Council expects demand will steady around 800 tons this year.
“This is essentially providing an alternative channel for imports in India in an efficient way, a transparent way, with probably a better pricing, which will be available to the end users,” said Gautam.
As of Tuesday, 64 big jewelers have come onboard with more applications in the pipeline, he said. The trades will be exempt from local duties, unless goods are moved outside the city.
Also read: Explained: How will India’s International Bullion Exchange (IIBX) work
The broader aim is to set up an exchange on the lines of the Shanghai Gold Exchange and Borsa Istanbul to make India a key regional hub for bullion flows, Metals Focus Ltd. said last month.
Gold is traditionally favored by Indians as a store of value, and buying and gifting of jewelry is seen as auspicious, especially during festivals and weddings. The exchange is also targeting non-resident Indians scattered across the globe, who want to add bullion to their portfolio.
The bourse has also roped in three companies providing vault services, which will be “competitively priced” to compete with other regional hubs, he said.
Additionally, IIBX plans to allow silver trading on the exchange in the future, he said.
The prime minister will also lay the foundation stone for the headquarters building of the International Financial Services Centres Authority.
Apart from that, Modi will launch NSE IFSC-SGX Connect platform. Under this system, all orders on Nifty derivatives placed by members of Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) will be routed to and matched on the NSE-IFSC order matching and trading platform.
The Connect platform will deepen liquidity in derivative markets at GIFT-IFSC.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Union Minister of Home Affairs and Co-operation Amit Shah, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Ministers of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad will attend the events, the release said.
Agencies