| At present, even though foreign exchange trading desks of banks close at 4 pm, trades extend till 4.30 pm. |
| The extension in time is aimed at helping Indian banks and their corporate clients to cover more time zones, especially Europe, for their rupee linked foreign currency transactions. |
| L Subramanium, forex dealer with ICICI Bank, said: "The extended timing will help corporate clients to cover deals denominated in European currencies. These will be the deals which have rupee as one leg of the currency and a European currency as the other." |
| Cross currency deals are covered by night desks set up by most of the banks. |
| This relaxation was one of the recommendations of the internal group on foreign exchange markets set up during the mid term review in October 2004. |
| The objective of the group was to review comprehensively the initiatives taken by RBI in the foreign exchange market and identify areas for further improvements. |
| The RBI has pointed out that since the early 1990s, significant liberalisation of the foreign exchange market has taken place and the process gained momentum after the Sodhani Committee recommendations were accepted for implementation. |
| "The foreign exchange market is now deeper and wider as gauged in terms of parameters such as the range of products, participation, liquidity and turnover," the report said. |
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