BSE signs licensing agreement with ICE Futures Europe

Leading exchange BSE said on Monday it has signed a licensing agreement with Intercontinental Exchange Inc, a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services.

The pact is for the use of the ICE Brent Index as the final settlement price for BSE's rupee-denominated Brent futures contract.

India is one of the largest consumers and importers of crude oil in the world, and Brent crude is highly co-related with the Indian crude oil basket.

"This licensing agreement will help Indian market participants access rupee-denominated Brent benchmark prices and deepen the Indian commodity markets by providing convenient and cost-effective onshore hedging products," said BSE in a statement.

"It will also enable the price discovery of Brent crude prices in the Indian time zone based on domestic fundamentals," it added.

BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) provides a transparent market for trading in equity, debt instruments, equity derivatives, currency derivatives, commodity derivatives, interest rate derivatives, mutual funds and stock lending and borrowing.

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