NSE IFSC and the London Stock Exchange have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore cross-border listings, trading and financial products, creating a new proposed link between GIFT City’s international financial centre and the UK’s established capital market.
The agreement, signed on Wednesday, covers potential dual and cross-listings in equities, fixed-income securities and exchange-traded funds. The exchanges will also examine trading in existing financial products and the development of NSE IFSC-linked derivatives tied to FTSE Russell indices.
The proposed collaboration includes work on new equity indices, cross-border trading connectivity and market data distribution. The arrangement does not itself announce a new listing, trading product or operational launch. Instead, it establishes a framework for the two exchanges to explore possible areas of cooperation.
Based at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT City, NSE IFSC offers single-stock and index derivatives, currency derivatives, depository receipts and global stocks. Its primary-market products include equity shares, debt securities, real estate investment trusts and infrastructure investment trusts.
The agreement places GIFT City’s international financial services ecosystem in a proposed two-way connection with the London Stock Exchange. NSE IFSC managing director and chief executive V Balasubramaniam said the collaboration could create opportunities in capital-market connectivity and financial-services integration between India and the UK.
“The proposed collaboration could enable trading in both directions. It could also improve liquidity and widen the investor base,” Balasubramaniam said. He added that NSE IFSC’s presence in the GIFT International Financial Services Centre ecosystem and the London Stock Exchange’s established market position could help deepen financial-market links between the two countries.
For GIFT City, the proposed arrangement adds an international-market dimension to the financial activities already available through NSE IFSC. The details released so far, however, do not specify the companies that could seek dual listings, the products that may be introduced, the trading systems that could be connected or a timeline for implementation.
London Stock Exchange chief executive Dame Julia Hoggett, who also heads digital and securities markets at London Stock Exchange Group, said the agreement would help connect the two markets and create opportunities for companies and investors.
The initiative follows the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. Its next stage will depend on the exchanges’ further work on listings, trading access, product development, connectivity and market-data distribution.
