NEW DELHI: Opportunities and growth potential are enormous for investors in the Indian financial market. The need of the hour is to get support from financial regulators and people alike.
This was the informed view of panelists at ETMarkets Global Summit in Mumbai today, comprising Priya Subbaraman, Chief Regulatory Officer at National Stock Exchange, J N Gupta, Founder and MD at Stakeholders Empowerment Services, V Balasubramanian, MD and CEO at India International Exchange and Samar Banwat Executive Vice President at NSDL.
They are of the opinion that more needs to be done in order to internationalise the domestic equity market.
Gupta, who calls himself a born optimist, said creating Gift City is just one part of that ecosystem, adding that India is ahead of the curve in terms of global competitiveness.
As for International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), Subbaraman called it as starting of a journey. She drove home the point that there is more to be done to take IFSC to a point where it can be a competitor to global exchanges, including SGX.
“It is incredible what IFSC has achieved in such a short time, given that for 150 years, financial markets have only been focussed in Mumbai,” she pointed out.
The panelist made a reference to a unified regulator that will simplify processes and lead to lesser delays and more consistency. "But roles of our primary regulators such as RBI and Sebi are not going away anytime soon," she made it clear.
Gupta believes that calls for a unified regulator for banks, equities and insurance spaces may not materialise anytime soon.
"No city can be built in a single day," said Balasubramanian.
He underscored the need to make the rupee fully convertible in order to make (IFSC) a better financial centre.
An IFSC caters to customers outside the jurisdiction of the domestic economy. Such centres deal in flows of finance, financial products and services across borders.
Balasubramanian noted that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for IFSC is to make India a price setter in commodities on a global stage such as gold and sugar.
The market regulator is working on a framework, where we can trade equity products at IFSC. This can be a good way to get people trade at IFSC, he said, adding that already a lot of global investors are interested in IFSC.
Balasubramanian spoke about the criticality of making products better as there is no term as captive audience in financial centres.
Banwat saw IFSC as a viable modern financial service centre.
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ET Markets
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