Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget: Nod to international bullion exchange at IFSC

The government on Saturday proposed to set up an international bullion exchange at IFSC in GIFT City. “The exchange will enable India to enhance its position worldwide, create jobs in India and will lead to better price discovery of gold,” said finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2020-21.

“Finance minister has re-emphasised the importance of GIFT-IFSC as an emerging global financial services hub. The policy pronouncement regarding GIFT-IFSC gives a tremendous boost to investor confidence both in India and abroad,” said GIFT City Managing Director Tapan Ray.

The government has also allowed rupee derivatives to be traded GIFT-IFSC, with an intention to bring all offshore rupee trading onshore with a 22-hour trading window.

In order to incentivise listing of bonds at IFSC exchange, the finance minister proposed further reduction in the withholding rate from 5% to 4%.

“India INX is fully geared up and ready to launch Rupee Dollar Futures and Options contracts trading as soon  as approvals are received from regulators,” said V Balasubramaniam, managing director and chief executive officer of BSE’s India Inx-India International Exchange IFSC. “We will also be keen to set up the International Bullion Exchange at GIFT IFSC,” he added.