NSE Became World’s Largest Derivatives Exchange for 2nd Consecutive Year

National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (NSE) has emerged as the world’s largest derivatives exchange in 2020 by number of contracts traded based on the statistics maintained by Futures Industry Association (FIA), a derivatives trade body. NSE is ranked 4th in the world in the cash equities by number of trades as per the statistics maintained by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) for calendar year 2020.

NSE has been focused on building robust markets for all asset classes. The exchange has launched a host of new products and services in 2020. In the capital market segment, NSE has listed T-bills (Treasury Bills) and SDLs (State Development Loans) facilitating investors to transact in these securities, in addition to the existing dated Government Securities (G-sec) available for trading. In the debt segment, the Exchange launched the Request for Quote Platform for execution and settlement of trades in debt securities.

On the derivatives side, the exchange launched weekly futures and options contracts on the EURINR, GBPINR and JPYINR pair. In the commodity derivatives segment, the exchange launched its first commodity options contract on Gold, followed by Silver. The exchange also made its foray in agricultural commodities with a futures contract on Crude Degummed Soybean Oil (CDSO).

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Vikram Limaye, MD & CEO, NSE said, “The Coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic is an unprecedented global situation that all countries are dealing with in terms of its human and economic consequences. The Government of India, various agencies and the frontline workforce have put in commendable efforts to combat the spread of the virus. It is indeed a matter of great pride for us and for our country that NSE has emerged as a global leader and achieved the distinction of being the largest derivatives exchange in the world for the 2nd consecutive year and the 4th largest exchange in cash equities by number of trades.”

“We are truly grateful to the Government of India, Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), trading members, market participants and all our stakeholders for the support extended to us over the years. Our achievements would not have been possible without their support,” he further added.

The number of new investor registrations witnessed substantial growth in CY 2020, with 70 lakh new investor registrations, the highest in a calendar year and 2.3 times the number of registrations in CY 2019. In January 2020, NSE saw its unique registered investor base crossing 3 crores and closed the year at 3.7 crore investors.

NSE’s capital market segment average daily turnover witnessed growth of 57% in CY  2020, maintaining a healthy positive trend for the 7th consecutive year. The volumes transacted through mobile and internet-based platforms have surged, accounting for 35% of cash market turnover.

The year also witnessed the highest inflow in a calendar year from Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) in equities of Rs. 1,70,262 crores up by 68.4% when compared to CY 2019 which saw inflows of Rs. 1,01,122 crores.  Despite operational challenges as a result of Covid, high volatility and volumes, NSE has provided stable, robust and resilient market infrastructure from a trading, risk management, regulatory and technology standpoint.

NSE is focused and committed to further strengthening investor protection through a variety of measures including focused investor education, enhanced broker supervision and market surveillance. Further, it has always been the endeavour of the exchange to provide a wide range of new products and services catering to the diverse risk appetites of the investors as well as providing new business opportunities to its vast network of intermediaries.