Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, July 29, 2022 will launch India’s first International Bullion Exchange – International Bullion Exchange (IIBX) – in the GIFT city (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City), along with several other projects.
All about India’s first global gold exchange
- IIBX is India’s first International Bullion Exchange set up at the GIFT City, Gandhinagar. It offers a diversified portfolio of products and technology services at a cost which the exchange claims is far more competitive than the Indian exchanges as well as other global exchanges in Hong Kong Singapore, Dubai, London and New York.
- India International Bullion Exchange IFSC Ltd (IIBX) is promoted by five market institutional investor’s i.e., CDSL, India INX, NSDL, NSE and MCX.
- This exchange will facilitate efficient price discovery with the assurance of responsible sourcing and quality, apart from giving impetus to the financialisation of gold in India, a statement by the IFSC Authority said
- The global gold exchange aims to create a regional bullion hub that will allow more jewelers to import the precious metal. The India International Bullion Exchange is expected to attract dealers, refineries and foreign banks, IIBX’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ashok Gautam told Bloomberg in an interview this week.
- The bourse will allow qualified jewelers to directly import gold, a change from current rules where only some banks and nominated agencies approved by the central bank can do so.
- As of Tuesday, 64 big jewelers have come onboard with more applications in the pipeline, Gautam told Bloomberg. The trades will be exempt from local duties, unless goods are moved outside the city.
- Gold 1 kg 995 purity and gold 100 gm 999 purity with a T+0 settlement (100% upfront margin) are expected to trade at IIBX initially and will be traded in the form of bullion depository receipts. All contracts are listed, traded & settled on IIBX are in US Dollars.
- The exchange has also roped in companies providing vault services. Vault means and includes any place of Storage where the Bullion traded on the Exchange are stored. All the Vaults in IFSC are approved by IFSCA.
- Apart from qualified jewellers, foreign bullion suppliers who follow OECD guidelines, public, and private firms, non-resident individual (NRIs) are also eligible to become members of the IIBX.
- International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) is the regulator of IIBX. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Union Budget 2020-21 had announced the setting up of IIBX at IFSCA.
