The National Stock Exchange said on Thursday it would launch trading in interest rate futures on June 24, more than a week later than originally planned.
The exchange had initially scheduled the launch for June 13, but had postponed it the day before and said it would announce the new date later.
"Members are informed that the Finance Minister Jaswant Singh would be inaugurating the launch of interest rate futures trading on the exchange on Tuesday," a statement from the bourse said.
The Reserve Bank of India gave permission to banks, primary dealers and term lenders two weeks ago to trade in interest rate derivatives on the country's stock exchanges, a move expected to widen the country's derivatives market.
The RBI allowed market participants to strike deals to hedge the interest rate risk from investments in government securities through exchange-traded derivative products.
India now allows trading in rate swaps linked to overnight funds rate and the implied term rupee rate benchmarks. Both, traded over the counter, are popular with foreign and private-sector banks, primary dealers and companies.
In the absence of short-selling in the government bond market, which the central bank banned in the early 1990s, interest rate futures will add depth to the government bond market, where the average daily volume is Rs 4,000-5,000 crore (Rs 40 to 50 billion), analysts said.
The central bank has said that market participants can become members of the futures and options segment of stock exchanges or do deals through members.
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