THE INDIAN CURRENCY FUTURES MARKET IN OPERATION

The exchange traded currency futures market is an extension of the already existing OTC market. The exchanges provide additional benefits trading in currency i.e. access to large number of participants, complete transparency, high liquidity, standardized contracts, counterparty risk management through their clearing corporations. Now the investors / traders or participants are opting to trade through the currency exchanges. foreign investors can transact in onshore Indian forward markets in a big way due to various measures taken by the RBI in recent years. The Indian currency has become one of the important currencies of the world. There is a need to hedge currency risk in Indian rupee due to much volatility in exchange rates. Initially Dollar-Rupee futures were traded. But the exchanges now trade Euro-Rupee, Pound-Rupee, and Yen-Rupee as well. The introduction of new currency pairs would go a long way in helping market participants, especially international traders to hedge against the cross currency volatility and mitigate risks in export and imports across all major trade currencies.