FTSE to launch India index

FTSE, one of the global benchmark indices on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), will launch its India version shortly. On Wednesday, FTSE, a joint venture of LSE and Financial Times, joined hands with MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) to start FTSE indices with Indian stocks as constituents after the Indian bourse gets the regulatory nod for starting equity trading. At present on MCX-SX — part of the Financial Technologies group that runs India’s largest commodities bourse, the Multi-Commodities Exchange (MCX) — only currency derivative contracts are traded. Other than regulatory nod for starting equity trading, the exchange is also awaiting nod for launching interest rate futures. Under the FTSE-MCX-SX agreement, the UK-based index managers will create a new Indian benchmark for stocks and bring in FTSE’s international indices to be traded on the Indian bourse. It would also help launch indices for MCX, and FT group’s two upcoming international exchanges, Singapore Mercantile Exchange and Bahrain Financial Exchange. The two entities will also aim at launching India-specific index products, which are hugely popular in most developed markets but yet to get wide acceptance among the domestic investors, Jignesh Shah, vice chairman, MCX-SX said.