Turnover from IRF crosses Rs 1 lakh cr-level in FY15

Trading of Interest Rate Futures on BSE, NSE and MCX-SX cumulatively stood at Rs 1.28 lakh crore, during April-August period

The turnover of Interest Rate Futures on bourses has crossed Rs one lakh crore since the beginning of fiscal 2014-15, even as trading value in August was down by over 10% from the previous month level.

Trading of Interest Rate Futures (IRF) on -- BSE, NSE and MCX-SX -- cumulatively stood at Rs 1.28 lakh crore, during April-August period.

However, for August, total trading value in IRF on the three stock exchanges dipped by 10.45% to Rs 28,644.62 crore over the preceding month.

Trading value of IRF cumulatively stood at Rs 31,987 crore in July, as per the data available with the bourses.

An IRF, generally a contract between a buyer and a seller agreeing to the future delivery of any interest-bearing asset such as government bonds, was launched on the three exchanges in January, this year.

Individually, NSE has recorded the highest turnover among the bourses at Rs 1.20 lakh crore during the five months of the current fiscal.

At the same time, the IRF value stood at about Rs 6,264 crore on BSE and Rs 1,391.18 crore on MCX-SX during the period.

For August, NSE recorded a IRF turnover at Rs 26,816.5 crore, down 12.5% from the preceding month. However, the exchange is much above BSE and MCX-SX both in terms of trading value and volume in IRF.

Besides, trading in IRF on MCX-SX also saw a sharp dip at Rs 92.18 crore in August from Rs 536 crore in July.

BSE, however, recorded a significant jump in turnover on the segment at about Rs 1,736 crore last month, compared to Rs 793 crore in July.

The bourses cumulatively traded 14.32 lakh contracts on their platforms during August, a drop of about 10% over the preceding month.

NSE registered trading of 13.40 lakh contracts, while BSE IRF volumes stood at 86,997. Besides, as many as 4,597 contracts were traded on MCX-SX.

With this, the total IRF volumes stand at nearly 64 lakh for the April-August period .

The cash-settled IRFs provides market participants with a better option to hedge risks arising from fluctuations in interest rates, which depend on various factors including RBI policy, demand for liquidity and flow of overseas funds.

Banks, primary dealers, mutual funds, insurance firms, FIIs, corporates and brokers, as well as retail investors can trade in this product.