HC extends stay in NSE-SGX case till May 31 following suit by Indian bourse

Setback for SGX as NSE's injunction continues against product launch

In a setback to Singapore Exchange (SGX), the Bombay High Court (HC) on Saturday extended the interim injunction order against launch of derivatives contracts by the foreign bourse. The court adjourned the hearing till May 31. 

“Until then, the ad-interim injunction granted on May 21, 2018, continues against the launch of new derivative contracts by SGX,” the National Stock Exchange (NSE) said in a press statement. 

Earlier this week, Justice SJ Kathawala had extended the stay on SGX’s April 11 circular on the new India products. SGX was set to launch trading from June 4. 

The move follows NSE’s lawsuit against the overseas bourse seeking interim relief against the marketing, promotion and launch of three new contracts — SGX India Futures, SGX Options and SGX India Bank Futures.

Despite several rounds of negotiations and arguments, NSE and SGX failed to arrive at a consensus with regard to the arbitration terms placed by the former. SGX sought more time to discuss the terms with NSE for obtaining the arbitration order and settling the dispute. 

Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is representing NSE, had put out three terms — the first being withdrawal of SGX’s April 11 circular on new product launch until the arbitration proceedings are disposed of. 

He also asked SGX to put the Bombay HC order on its website so that investors know that the matter was sub-judice. The third term is that SGX should mention the high court order in all its agreements, marketing materials and notifications to clients. However, SGX is not in favour of all of these terms. 

In February, NSE, BSE and Metropolitan Stock Exchange had taken a joint decision to stop providing data feeds to international bourses in order to put a halt to trading of derivatives contracts based on Indian indices on overseas exchanges.