“Participation of domestic banks in derivative markets remains limited with only a small set of active market-makers… Domestic banks are dealing with market-makers in global markets rather than with end clients and are yet to emerge as market makers of note globally,” Das said at a conference of fixed income market participants in Barcelona.
While ensuring prudence and due diligence, the focus should be on widening participation of Indian players in markets for rupee derivatives, both local and offshore, Das said, pointing to the crucial hedging function that derivatives markets provide to the economy.
Observing that liquidity in over the counter (OTC) derivatives markets, especially interest rate derivatives, is largely confined to a few products, Das said that local market players were still to fully utilise new regulatory frameworks and exploit opportunities.
Reiterating an issue that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has flagged numerous times over the past year, Das said that retail players are yet to receive the same fine pricing that large customers enjoy.
“Divergence in pricing in FX (foreign exchange) markets for the small and large customers are wider than what can be justified by operational considerations,” Das said, adding that lenders may need to do more to facilitate the use of the FX Retail Platform.
