Mumbai, October 06, 2008 - MCX Stock Exchange (MCX - SX) has launched Currency Futures segment today in Mumbai at the hands of Chief Guest of Honour Shri C. B. Bhave, Chairman, SEBI. Smt. Shyamala Gopinath, Deputy Governor, RBI was Guest of Honour at the event. Over 500 industry leaders from banks, corporates, and from other financial institutions attended the launch ceremony.

Live trading at MCX-SX platform will commence from 9 AM on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008.

MCX-SX created a world record of sort in financial and capital market history by receiving 870+ membership including 22 banks from private sector, public sector and foreign banks in a record time of just two weeks.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. P. G. Kakodkar, Chairman, MCX-SX, said: "We are happy that the government has taken a forward looking decision by giving permission to launch the exchange traded currency derivatives at the right time. It is a blessing for the currency market to have a transparent futures platform during these volatile times. The increasing cross-border flow of capital across economies owing to globalization has caused risk to travel subtly across markets. This has heightened the need for an exchange for currency risk management and exchange rate discovery. This is the big challenge that MCX-SX, a new-age, technology-driven, transparent exchange proposes to meet".

Mr. Jignesh Shah, Vice-Chairman, MCX-SX, said, "We are pleased to have Shri Bhave and Smt. Gopinath at the launch ceremony. We would also like to thank the Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India, SEBI, RBI for their policy guidance and support and we are also grateful to the market participants for the interest exhibited in MCX-SX. We have received global appreciation for these initiatives and that shows the interest of global markets in the opportunities in India and the importance of Indian Rupee. I am confident that the strong research and domain expertise of MCX coupled with the new generation technology platform and a good mix of actual users amongst participants will give an edge in the currency derivatives market."

Mr P G Kakodkar, Chairman (former Chairman, SBI), Mr Jignesh Shah, Vice Chairman, Mr Vepa Kamesan, Director (Former Deputy Governor, RBI), Mr S S Thakur, Director (Former Controller of Foreign Exchange, RBI), Mr B D Sumitra, Director (Former Managing Director, CCIL), Mr C M Maniar, Director (Senior Partner, Crawford Bayley & Co), Mr V Hariharan, Director and Mr Joseph Massey, Director.

Mr G N Bajpai, Former Chairman of SEBI and LIC, Mr Venkat Chary, Chairman, MCX and Former Chairman, Forward Markets Commission (FMC), Mr A V Rajawade, renowned forex expert, Mr Jamal Meclai, CEO of Meclai Financial and authority on FX markets, Mr Naresh Deshpande, Former Principal Legal Advisor, RBI and Mr Ganesh Rao, CEO of IBS Forex Ltd.

MCX - SX currency futures trading platform brings a new dynamism and innovation to the forex market. Its pursuit of "Systematic Development of Financial Markets in India" through Education and Research, will enable businesses of all sizes, from SMEs to large corporates and banks, to hedge against forex rate volatilities with a standard and transparent product on an exchange platform.

MCX-SX will bring to its members and participants a host of benefits and will provide significant advantages such as:

• Large number of actual users
• Easy to use and proven technology
• Standardized contracts: Small lot size - USD 1,000
• No counterparty default risk
• Efficient price discovery
• Transparency and Real-time dissemination of prices
• Access through multiple modes of connectivity
• Presence of large number of banks and clearing members

As per the BIS Triennial Survey on the global foreign exchange and derivatives market activity, the foreign exchange market in India has grown into the 16th largest market in the world in terms of total daily turnover, which was USD 34 billion in 2007. The OTC derivatives segment of the foreign exchange market in India increased significantly to register a daily average turnover of USD 24 billion, which makes it 17th largest among all countries.

The currency futures on MCX-SX will be initially be on USD-INR basis and each contract will be valid for 12 months from its launch on the exchange. The size of each contract will be US$1,000 and the contract will be quoted and settled in Indian rupees. The settlement price will be the Reserve Bank of India's reference rate. The market timings will be from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm from Monday to Friday.

MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) is a stock exchange recognised by the SEBI & RBI and has been allowed to operationalizing the exchange traded currency derivatives.

The exchange will allow importers, exporters, investors, corporations and banks to hedge their currency risks with greater transparency and safety. With a large number of banks, corporates, brokerage houses and actual users as trading members, MCX-SX will provide the desired liquidity and depth for all categories of users. Further, MCX-SX will guarantee settlement of all transactions which will enhance safety by eliminating counterparty risk. Besides large users, MCX-SX will also benefit small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who hitherto did not have easy access to the currency markets. MCX - SX has been promoted by Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (MCX) and Financial Technologies (India) Limited (FTIL)

The MCX - SX, currency futures trading platform brings a new dynamism and innovation to the forex market. MCX - SX believes in Systematic development of financial markets in India through Education and Research and accordingly it has taken various measures to ensure that this important financial instrument is used by users more effectively.

For further details on contract, please refer to contract specifications

Akshay Jain
Assistant Vice President, Corporate Communications
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Rajesh Chaturvedi
Adfactors PR Pvt. Ltd.
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