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     This, more than anywhere else, holds true for the financial markets, which are known to innovate to

    keep pace with the growing needs and changing risk appetite of market participants. History of financial

    markets is replete with examples of growth of markets giving rise to demands for new, different

    instruments to enable investors to manage risks and markets innovating to satisfy these demands. As

    an example, the innovation and growth of derivative instruments was the result of satisfaction of 

    demand of market players for a means to hedge price risk of holding an inventory of commodities.

    While they first emerged as hedging devices against fluctuations in commodity prices and commodity-

    linked derivatives and were the sole forms of such products for a long time, they were replicated for

    financial instruments as well in the post-1970 period due to growing instability in the financial markets.

    In the recent years, the market for financial derivatives has grown both in terms of variety of instrumentsavailable, their complexity and turnover.

    As per the Futures Industry Association (FIA) Annual Volume Survey, more than 15 billion futures and

    options contracts were traded during 2007 on the 54 exchanges that report to the FIA, an increase of 

    28% from the previous year. The growth rates were 19% in 2006, 12% in 2005, and 9% in 2004.

    As regards the position of derivatives trading in India, among the top derivatives exchanges worldwide,

    the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) ranked 9th in 2007 in terms of futures and options volume

    with 379 mn contracts being traded in 2007 (Source: FIA). In terms of trading volumes in single stock

    futures, while the NSE was ranked first (1st) in terms on number of contracts traded in 2006, it has

    shifted to second position as the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) overtook NSE with a 265.49

    million contracts traded in 2007 at the JSE as against 179.33 contracts on the NSE11

    .

     The factors that have been driving the growth of financial derivatives worldwide are technological

    developments leading to development of more sophisticated risk management tools; increased volatility

    in asset prices in financial markets; increased integration of national financial markets with international

    markets and the inherent characteristic of the derivatives markets to be able to optimally combine the

    risks and returns over a large number of financial assets. These financial instruments are becoming an

    increasingly important vehicle for unbundling risks as they enhance the ability to differentiate risk

    and allocate it to those investors most able and willing to take it.

    However, on their journey of innovation, derivatives have not been free from controversies. They have

    often been held to be too complex to comprehend. The leverage that these products provide to investors

    raises concern. Recently, the present global financial crisis is being attributed to the housing mortgages

    being repackaged and sold as collateralised debt obligations and other exotic derivative products to

    financial institutions, pension funds and individuals. Policy markers around the world are now having

    ARTICLE

    INDIAN DERIVATIVE MARKETS: SOME POLICY ISSUES

    -Anuradha Guru10

    "Necessity is the mother of invention" said the Greek philosopher, Plato.

    10 The author is with the NSE. Views are personal.11Source: World Federation of Exchanges: Annual Report and statistics, 2007

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    a relook as the problems being posed by derivatives viz. lack of homogeneous rules and accounting

    standards; the excessive freedom allowed to market players to innovate and the lack of complete

    statistics for exchange-traded and OTC transactions. Leaders are talking about the need for more

    transparency and accountability in the functioning of derivative markets.

    While this exercise is underway, the aim of this paper is to present the historical perspective in

    which derivatives have developed in India and present certain issues which have been widely

    debated in the context of these markets in India, while also presenting the international context

    of the debates.

     The regulatory framework for Indian derivative markets has evolved overtime starting with promulgation

    of the Securities Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 1995 which withdrew the prohibition on ‘options in

    securities’ by repealing section 20 of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) at, 1956 [SC(R)A]. There

    after, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) appointed committee under the chairmanship

    of Dr. L. C. Gupta in November 1996, which recommended an appropriate regulatory framework for

    derivatives trading in India. In March 1998, the L. C. Gupta Committee (LCGC) submitted its report

    recommending the introduction of derivatives markets in a phased manner beginning with the

    introduction of index futures.

     The Committee noted that:

    "The evolution of markets in commodities and financial assets may be viewed as a worldwide long-term 

    historical process. In this process, the emergence of futures has been recognised in economic literature as 

    a financial development of considerable significance." 

    It further opined that:

    "…financial futures have quickly spread to an increasing number of developed and developing countries.

    They are recognized as the best and most cost-efficient way of meeting the felt need for risk-hedging in 

    certain types of commercial and financial operations. Countries not providing such globally accepted risk- 

    hedging facilities are disadvantaged in today's rapidly integrating global economy." 

     Thus, the decision to commence with derivatives trading was taken and another committee appointed

    by SEBI in June 1998, under Prof. J.R. Varma, to recommend measures for risk containment for thesemarkets. Derivatives trading commenced in June 2000, after necessary legislative amendments12  and

    SEBI approval, on the NSE and BSE. Trading first commenced in Index futures contracts in June

    2000, followed by index options in June 2001, options in individual stocks in July 2001 and futures in

    single stock derivatives in November 2001.

     The LCGC was cautious in its approach towards launching of equity derivatives in India. It favored:

    "… the introduction of equity derivatives in a phased manner so that the complex types are introduced 

    after the market participants have acquired some degree of comfort and familiarity with the simpler 

    types. This would be desirable from the regulatory angle too." 

    India's experience with derivative products has been very encouraging and we quickly emerged as one

    of the most successful developing countries in terms of a vibrant market for exchange-traded derivatives.

     The turnover in the derivatives segment of the NSE soon overtook the turnover in the capital markets

    segment of the exchange. As per the latest data for the period April 08 to Nov 08, the turnover in the

    12 The Securities Contracts (Regulations) Act, 1956 was suitably amended to define "derivatives" and classify them

    as "securities" under the Act.

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    derivatives trading. It released another draft guideline in May, 2007. Between March 2003 and

    May 2007, four years have lapsed and the credit derivatives market has not yet started functioning.

    Various apprehensions have been expressed about the preparedness of Indian markets for this product

    in terms of risk management infrastructure and comprehension of the product itself. These

    apprehensions of the market regulators have been aggravated further in the light of the present global

    financial crisis as pointed out earlier in the article. Thus, this product has for the present been kept on

    hold for the Indian markets.

    Besides the issue of expanding the universe of derivative instruments available in the Indian markets,

    two important policy issues that confront the markets are the choice between cash and physical

    settlement and the choice between exchange traded and OTC derivative markets. These are elaborated

    below

    Cash vs Physical settlement

     There has been much controversy about the two modes of settlement that are available for derivative

    contracts, viz. cash and physical settlement, comparing the two on the basis of their vulnerability to

    speculation and manipulation. Physical settlement, it is argued, provides the link to the real markets

    of the underlying securities. However it is susceptible to distortions such as "short squeezes"13 . Cash

    settlement, on the other hand, provides the benefits of avoiding the problem of delivery costs andlowering the effectiveness of market manipulations such as cornering and squeezing.

    Presently, all derivative contracts in India are cash settled. Looking at the debate on cash vs physical

    settlement of derivatives in India, we find that the LCGC Report took it for granted that physical

    settlement would be used for derivative contracts on individual stocks. It noted that:

    "In the case of individual stocks, the positions which remain outstanding on the expiration date will

    have to be settled by physical delivery. This is an accepted principle everywhere. The futures and the

    cash market prices have to converge on the expiration date. Since Index futures do not represent a 

    physically deliverable asset, they are cash settled all over the world on the premise that the index value

    is derived from the cash market. This, of course, implies that the cash market is functioning in

    a reasonably sound manner and the index values based on it can be safely accepted as the

    settlement price.

    However, when single stock derivatives were introduced in India, it was decided to use cash settlement

    to begin with because the exchanges did not then have the software, legal framework and administrative

    infrastructure for physical settlement. It was proposed that cash settlement would be replaced by

    physical settlement as the exchanges developed the capabilities to achieve physical settlement efficiently.

    In April 2002, SEBI's Advisory Committee on Derivatives (ACD) proposed a broad framework for physical

    settlement presenting the risks and benefits of physical settlements along with possible risk containment

    measures. The ACD noted the following as the principal issues involved in physical settlement:

    • In the absence of a vibrant mechanism for securities lending and borrowing, physical settlementof stock specific derivative contracts, especially stock options, may raise concerns on the

    possibility of a short squeeze.

    13A situation where some economic agents adopt a long position on the futures market which is larger than the

    stock of physical deliverable in existence, causing the spot price to rise and giving profits to the manipulator.

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    • Globally, cash settlement is cheaper than physical settlement, but the economics may be

    less clear cut in India where the modernization of the payment system has lagged that of the

    securities settlement system.

    • Under the existing procedure of cash settlement, hedgers and arbitrageurs incur overnight

    price risk for liquidating one leg of the transaction in the cash markets. A hedger (who by

    definition has a position in the underlying) would have to liquidate that position in the cash

    market and then bears the risk that the price realized in the cash market would differ fromthe settlement price used for cash settlement in the derivative markets. The same argument

    applies to arbitrageurs. Speculators on the other hand would find cash settlement beneficial

    since they do not (by definition) have an offsetting cash market position and cash settlement

    saves them the burden of operating in two markets. Physical settlement of derivative contract

    helps hedgers and arbitragers avoid basis risk while imposing some additional costs on

    speculators.

     The committee held the view that the regulatory regime should be more in tune with the requirements

    of hedgers and arbitrageurs than the needs of speculators. For this reason, it recommended physical

    settlement which protects hedgers and arbitrageurs from basis risk in the settlement process. At the

    same time, the Committee recognized the concerns regarding short squeezes in physical settlementand recommended certain measures to reduce the risk of short squeeze. As regards the mechanism of 

    physical settlement the Committee recommended a model where the cash market clearing corporation

    is used to settle derivatives and the mechanism of physical settlement is such that at no point in time

    are trades on the derivative segment commingled with trades on cash market.

    SEBI approved of this recommendation and was of the view that it would be desirable to have a vibrant

    system of margin-trading and securities lending and borrowing in the cash market, before allowing

    physical settlement. Both the schemes were permitted by SEBI in March, 2004. The margin-trading

    scheme was not successful as the market did not perceive the scheme to be attractive or efficient. The

    ACD again deliberated on this issue and reiterated that physical settlement is dependent on a vibrant

    securities lending and borrowing mechanism.

    It is being debated that since a full-fledged securities and lending mechanism is now in place and short

    selling by all market participants has been permitted (since April 21, 2008), it may now also be the time

    to move to physical settlement of derivative contracts.

    In this context, it would be instructive to ask if the physical settlement is an end in itself or a means to

    something. If the objective is the efficient and liquid market where futures price converges with the

    spot price on expiration, then cash settlement is equally effective, if not more. We look at some evidence

    on the process of price discovery and market manipulation under the physical and cash settlement

    system.

    An "efficient" price discovery process happens when the private information embodied in the futuremarket participants seamlessly percolates to the spot market. Presented here are certain empirical

    studies on efficiency of cash vis-à-vis physically settled derivative contracts. While the first two studies

    deal with commodity markets, the implications would be even more pertinent in markets with financial

    underlyings.

    -Nabil Chaherli and Robert Hauser (1995) analyze the delivery system in the Chicago Board of Trade

    corn and soybean contracts, alternative physical delivery systems, and cash settlement systems.

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    A theoretical model of futures pricing with delivery option is used to simulate futures prices with

    different terms of construct cash indices. Results suggest that cash settlement provides slightly higher

    levels of hedging effectiveness than any type of multiple physical deliveries.

    - Donald Lien and Yiu Kuen Tse (2002) investigate the effects of the switch from physical delivery to

    cash settlement on the behavior of the cash and futures prices of the feeder cattle contract traded on

    the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The results show the following:

    • Volatility of the futures prices (but not the cash prices) declined after physical delivery was

    replaced by cash settlement.

    • In terms of futures hedging, cash settlement led to smaller and more stable hedge ratios.

    • The variance of the hedged portfolio also decreased substantially.

     The evidence suggests that cash settlement is beneficial to the feeder cattle futures market.

    - Donald Lien and Li Yang (2004) look at the experience of Australian stock exchange with the introduction

    of physical delivery. The study investigates the effects of the settlement method change on Australian

    individual stock and its futures markets. Specifically, it examines whether return and volatility of each

    market, correlation between the two markets, basis behavior, and hedging performance of futuresmarkets differ across cash settlement period and physical delivery period. The study concludes that

    after the switch from cash settlement to physical delivery, the futures market, the spot market, and

    the basis all become more volatile.

    In conclusion, there is, thus, no fundamental difference on price discovery and it is always possible to

    obtain convergence of futures price to the spot price on expiration date, both under physical as well as

    cash settlement, because this convergence depends upon arbitrage and it is perfectly feasible to do

    arbitrage under cash settlement.

    Prof Varma points out that according to Finance theory, the only difference between receiving the

    underlying and receiving its price (i.e physical and cash settlement) is the transaction cost involved.14

     To convert the price into the underlying or the other way around requires one transaction in the cash

    market - nothing more and nothing less. Even these costs do not apply to most trades because they are

    squared off before expiry. The choice of settlement mode can, according to him, therefore, be safely left

    to market forces. But if the regulator chooses to intervene, it should be on the side of physical settlement

    because it imposes lower transaction costs on hedgers and arbitrageurs at the cost of higher transaction

    costs on speculators.

    OTC vs exchange traded derivatives

    Derivatives trading can be organized in two ways. The first way is through bi-lateral agreement between

    counterparties, called the `over the counter' or `OTC derivatives' transactions. Another way is through

    the anonymous order matching platform of the stock exchange. Exchange-traded contracts are

    standardized, with regard to maturity date, contract size and delivery terms, whereas OTC contracts

    are custom-tailored to the client's needs. Worldwide there is has been a phenomenal increase in OTC

    transactions, as indicated from the table below:

    14http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/~jrvarma/papers/BS-19Jan2004.pdf 

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    Global Exchange traded derivatives volume by category

    (in USD millions)

    GLOBAL 2007 2006 Percentage change

    Equity Indices 5616.82 4453.95 26.1

    Interest Rate 3740.88 3193.44 17.14

    Individual Equities 4091.92 2876.49 42.25

    Energies 496.41 385.97 28.61

    Agricultural 645.64 489.03 32.02Metals 256.07 218.68 17.09

    Currency 334.71 240.05 39.43

    Others 4.23 4.36 -2.98

    Total Volume 15186.67 11862.21 28.03

    Source: Futures Industry Magazine, March/April 2008.

     The growth in this market has been led by the innovations happening in structured finance and other

    customized derivatives products. These innovations are driven by the investor's demands and the

    competition among the institutional brokers to cater to these demands.

    Some of the advantages of OTC contracts are:

    • Buyers and Sellers can negotiate the contracts as per their respective needs to come with

    customized products.

    • Transaction costs can be reduced. The fees like exchange fees, clearing fees can be eliminated.

    • OTC derivatives market can be used for executing bulk orders without the risk of market

    impact.

     Table below presents the derivative transactions on organized exchanges vis-à-vis those happening in

    the OTC markets. As is evident from the data, while both exchange traded and OTC derivative

    transactions are increasing, the rate of growth of amounts outstanding of exchange traded derivative

    instruments was 14% over Dec-06 to Dec-07 vis-à-vis 43.5% growth in OTC derivations over the same

    period. Over the period Dec-07 to June-08, the rate of growth of outstanding OTC derivative transactions

    was 15% as against 5% growth in amounts outstanding on exchange traded derivative transactions.Products Dec-06 Dec-07 Jun-08

    Derivative financial Interest rate futures 24,476 26,770 26,874

    instruments traded on Currency futures 161 159 176

    organised exchanges Equity Index futures 1,045 1,132 1,584

    (amounts outstanding) Interest rate options 38,116 44,282 46,905

    Currency options 79 133 191

    Equity Index options 5,529 6,625 7,088

    Total 69,406 79,101 82,818

    Notional amounts of Foreign exchange contracts 40,271 56,238 62,983

    OTC derivatives Interest rate contracts 2,91,582 3,93,138 4,58,304outstanding Equity linked contracts 7,488 8,469 10,177

    Commodity contracts 7,115 8,455 13,229

    Credit default swaps 28,650 57,894 57,325

    others 39,740 71,146 81,708

    Total 4,14,846 5,95,340 6,83,726

    Source: BIS Quarterly review, December, 2008.

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     Though OTC transactions have certain benefits as mentioned above, they are generally held to be faced

    with problems of inefficient price discovery and large counterparty risk as they are privately negotiated,

    devoid of novation which a clearing corporation offers. A recent IMF working paper15attempts to quantify

    counterparty risk that may stem from the OTC derivatives markets. The risk is measured by losses

    that may result via the OTC derivative contracts to the financial system from the default (or fail) of one

    or more banks or broker dealers. It finds that considering that the notional value of all categories of the

    OTC contracts reached almost $600 trillion at the end of December 2007, the failure of a single major

    financial institution could result in losses to the OTC derivatives market of $300-$400 billion. Thepaper argues that since such a failure would likely cause cascading failures of other institutions, the

    total global financial system losses could exceed $1,500 billion.

    However, there is another aspect of this debate which argues that we are presently witnessing an

    increasingly diminishing boundaries between the exchange traded and OTC derivatives markets. We

    note the following:

    a. Exchange-traded contracts are generally thought of as having been standardized (with regard

    to maturity date, contract size and delivery terms), whereas OTC contracts are custom-

    tailored to the client's needs. Some exchanges, however, have introduced derivative instruments

    that can provide a significant degree of customization16. A notable example is the "Flex"

    option, which was introduced by the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE) in February1993. Flex options allow investors to choose strike prices, expiration date and style. The

    Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) has introduced "Flexible Treasury Option" written on U.S.

     Treasury bonds and bills which allows for investors' choice of exercise price, expiration date

    and style. Such products are now also being offered by the Toronto Stock Exchange, the

    Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and the London International

    Financial Futures Exchange etc.

    Also, in practice, OTC markets may follow certain simplifying market conventions that provide a certain

    degree of standardization. For example, most interest rate swaps in Canada are fairly standardized,

    typically involving the exchange of cash flows on a contract's notional value based on 1-month or

    3-month bankers' acceptances (floating interest rate) for 2- to 5-year Government of Canada bonds(fixed rate).

    b. The general perception about OTC markets is that they have high counterparty risk. However,

    the Bank for International Settlement's Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems

    (CPSS), in a report on "New developments in clearing and settlement arrangements for OTC

    derivatives", published in March 2007, based on a survey of 35 large OTC dealers, has inter-

    alia, noted the following:

    i. Expanded use of collateral now significantly mitigates counterparty credit risks, and the

    legal and operational risks associated with reliance on collateral have been reduced by

    changes in national law and enhancements to dealers' collateral management systems.

    ii. The use of Central Counterparties (CCPs) has expanded in financial markets generally,spurred by increasing use of electronic trading systems. Some CCPs have also developed

    15IMF Working Paper: Counterparty Risk in the Over-The-Counter Derivatives Market by Miguel A. Segoviano and

    Manmohan Singh, November 2008.16 The Microstructure of Financial Derivatives Markets: Exchange-Traded versus Over-the-Counter by Brenda 

    González-Hermosillo, Bank of Canada (March 1994)

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    services that enable products traded over the counter to be submitted for clearing. In

    most instances, the OTC products are converted into equivalent exchange-traded

    contracts to facilitate clearing and to allow for offsetting with exchange-traded products.

    Examples include:

    - Bclear, an exchange service launched by EuroNext.Liffe at the end of 2005, which brings equity

    derivatives transactions initially conducted OTC to LCH.Clearnet for trade confirmation, administration

    and clearing. The original transaction is replaced by an exchange contract through novation;

    - the OTC Trade Entry Facility provided by Eurex Clearing AG;

    - Clearing 360, a similar service offered by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) for OTC interest

    rate derivatives. In operation since April 2006, Clearing 360 takes a bilaterally negotiated OTC swap

    trade and converts it into a strip of futures contracts, which are then submitted to CME for clearing;

    - Converge, a service launched in October 2006 by the Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation, a 

    wholly owned subsidiary of the Montreal Exchange. This service clears OTC equity options; and

    - the New York Mercantile Exchange's ClearPort facility, which transforms OTC natural gas and other

    energy derivatives into exchange-traded and cleared futures.

    c. A trade information warehouse has been created by the Depository Trust & ClearingCorporation (DTCC) and launched in November 2006. The Trade Information Warehouse

    ("Warehouse"), as the market's central registry and industry-recognized post-confirm

    infrastructure for credit derivatives, is optimally equipped to support any and all CCPs that

    are established in the CDS market. Virtually all dealers and buy-side participants along with

    15 third-party service providers in the global CDS market are already linked to the Warehouse

    and utilize its functionality.

    The position in India

    Economic entities in India currently have a menu of OTC products. In respect of forex derivatives

    involving rupee, residents have access to foreign exchange forward contracts, foreign currency-rupee

    swap instruments and currency options - both cross currency as well as foreign currency-rupee. Forderivatives involving only foreign currency, a range of products such as IRS, FRAs, option are allowed.

     The rupee interest rate derivatives presently permissible are Forward Rate Agreements (FRA), Interest

    Rate Swaps (IRS) and Interest Rate Futures (IRF). Table below indicates the activity in the OTC markets

    in India:

    OTC derivatives turnover in April 2007

    Daily averages, in mn of USD

    OTC foreign Outward forwards 6,299

    exchange Foreign exchange swaps 13,437

    derivatives Currency swaps 479

    Options 3,800

    OTC single currency Forward rate agreements …

    interest rate derivatives Swaps 3,395

    Options …

    Total 27,410

    Source: BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey of foreign exchange and derivatives markets activity, 2007.

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    17Converted at the 2007 calendar year annual average exchange rate, published by the RBI, of IUSD=Rs. 41.29.18http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/~jrvarma/papers/OTC-Derivatives-Bus-Std-online-14 Nov. 07.pdf 

     The corresponding activity on the derivatives segment of the largest derivatives exchange, the National

    Stock exchange, in the month of April 2007 was Rs 30,8143 mn (or USD 7463 mn 17) of average daily

    turnover.

     Thus, in line with international trend, the OTC derivatives markets in India are far larger than the

    exchange traded market for derivatives.

     The debate on choice between the two ways of trading in derivative, viz. on exchange and OTC, in India 

    is on the same lines as the international debate. It is recognized that OTC trading, while permitting

    unlimited flexibility in the contract, suffers from non-transparency, inefficient price discovery and

    generally involves counterparty risk. However, there are some benefits of OTC markets, as pointed out

    by Prof J.R.Varma, who argues for the creation of an OTC equity derivative market in India 18. He is of 

    the view that competition between OTC markets and exchanges forces each market to lower costs and

    to adopt the best practices of the other market. He further holds that standardized and highly liquid

    contracts are best traded in organized exchanges because of the enhanced transparency and lower

    systemic risk. However new contracts are often best incubated in OTC markets until they achieve a 

    critical mass of liquidity and widespread participation at which point they can be moved to the exchange

    traded format. Long dated equity options are today best incubated in OTC markets.

    On the other hand, on the role of exchange-traded vs OTC derivatives, the recent report of Government

    appointed High Powered Expert Committee on Making Mumbai an International Financial Centre has

    stressed on a greater role for exchange-traded derivatives in an Indian International Financial Center,

    inter-alia, for the following reasons:

    - The present OTC market in India largely trades plain vanilla products for which exchange

    traded platform is a better option as it provides transparency and liquidity at no cost in

    flexibility.

    - In an environment where India's regulatory and supervisory capacity in the derivatives markets

    in still nascent but evolving, exchange traded markets are easier to regulate than the opaque

    OTC markets which make greater demand upon regulation and governance.

    - Exchange traded markets fit better with non-institutional customers who are not able to

    access the telephone network through which OTC trading takes place.

    - Exchange traded derivatives trading plays to India's strengths in running exchange institutions.

    Our two national exchanges (BSE and NSE) and clearing corporations (NSCCL and CCIL) are

    a strong set of institutions who can compete in the global market for exchange traded

    derivatives.

     The report, on this issue, concludes that India needs both exchange traded derivatives and OTC

    derivatives. However, based on the above arguments, it is desirable to lay special focus on obtaining

    world-class liquidity on the exchange platform, after which OTC market can spring up based on utilizationof the prices and liquidity produced on this platform.

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    In conclusion, one has seen a significant growth of OTC derivatives market world over. Internationally,

    the problems of technology solutions and risk management are increasingly being addressed by new

    developments in the market like introduction of electronic trading and confirmation systems, CCP

    clearing the trades etc. With these developments happening, analysts have argued that it is actually

    leading to unification of the organized exchange market and the OTC market. There are other sets of 

    analysts who feel both the exchange and OTC derivatives market will co-exist as they cater to needs of 

    different user.

    However, there is a renewed debate on the level of transparency and counterparty risk in the OTC

    markets kindled by the sub prime mortgage crisis in the US and the need to regulate OTC transactions

    effectively, as also mentioned in the introduction of this article. This throws up important issues

    which, at best, may need to be handled separately.

    For the present, one could say that these markets, viz. exchange traded and OTC, are two competing

    market and each have unique characteristics.

    References

    Nabil Chaherli and Robert Hauser, “Delivery Systems versus Cash Settlement in Corn and Soybean

    Futures Contracts,” SSRN working paper. February 1995.

    Donald Lien and Yiu Kuen Tse, “Physical delivery versus cash settlement: an empirical study on the

    feeder cattle contract,” Journal of Empirical Finance, November 2002.

    Donald Lien and Li Yang, “Alternative settlement methods and Australian individual share futures

    contracts,” Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money December 2004.