Indian stock exchange arm to allow domestic retail investors to trade in U.S. stocks

MUMBAI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- India's National Stock Exchange (NSE) will for the first time facilitate the trading for domestic retail investors in select U.S. stocks on its platform under regulatory sandbox, the NSE said in a statement Monday.

Currently, several Indian stock brokerages have been facilitating investing in U.S. stocks for domestic investors through tie-up with foreign affiliates.

The offering, by the NSE's subsidiary, the International Financial Services Center (IFSC) located at the Gift city north of Mumbai, will be in the form of unsponsored depository receipts.

The entire trading, clearing, settlement and holding of U.S. Stocks will be under the regulatory structure of IFSC Authority as permitted under the Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) limits prescribed by the country's Central Bank.

The LRS framework of Reserve Bank of India permits Indian residents to remit up to 250,000 U.S. dollars per year for a current or capital account transaction.

"This will be an innovative product, and one of the key milestones for NSE IFSC that will expand the product coverage of the Exchange beyond existing clientele. With the guidance of IFSC authority and the support of all the key stakeholders involved, we hope to operationalize this product soon," said Vikram Limaye, MD & CEO of NSE.

NSE IFSC will announce the operational details to trade in U.S. stocks shortly and will launch the product at the earliest possible time. Depositories, banks and brokers have already started working with NSE IFSC to enable these investment products for Indian investors, the statement said.