International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) chairperson Injeti Srinivas on Wednesday launched a pilot run for International Bullion Exchange at GIFT City in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
The International Bullion Exchange is scheduled to go live on October 1, 2021, the Foundation Day of the regulator created for the development and regulation of financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in India.
At present, GIFT IFSC is the maiden international financial services centre in India.
Following the announcement by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Union Budget 2020-21, the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Bullion Exchange) Regulations, 2020 were notified on December 11, 2020 which cover the Bullion Exchange, Clearing Corporation, Depository and Vaults, it said.
Government has also taken steps to notify bullion spot trading and bullion depository receipts with underlying bullion as financial products and bullion related services as financial services, it said.
The International Bullion Exchange shall be the 'Gateway for Bullion Imports into India', wherein all the bullion imports for domestic consumption shall be channelized through the exchange, it said.
"The exchange ecosystem is expected to bring all the market participants at a common transparent platform for bullion trading and provide an efficient price discovery, assurance in the quality of gold, enable greater integration with other segments of financial markets and help establish India's position as a dominant trading hub in the world," it said.
Pursuant to Memorandum of Understanding between National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE), the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX), India INX International Exchange (IFSC) Limited (INDIA INX), National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDSL), the holding company India International Bullion Holding IFSC Ltd, it said.
It further said the IFSCA has approved the application by the Holding Company for setting up the International Bullion Exchange through the subsidiary of the holding company, 'India International Bullion Exchange IFSC Ltd', encompassing the Bullion Exchange and the Bullion Clearing Corporation.
CDSL-IFSC, a foreign depository has been designated as the Bullion Depository for the Bullion Exchange responsible for managing the Vault Manager.
