Volumes on the USE, which has 21 public sector banks, five private ones, the Bombay Stock Exchange and other companies as stakeholders, stood at Rs 45,485.97-crore on the inaugural day of trading, an official release said here.
Even adding the volumes of MCX-SX (Rs 20,869.39-crore) and NSE (Rs 21,035.21-crore) does not beat USE's debut show.
"We are witnessing good volumes and it (volumes) has already crossed Rs 2,000-crore in the first hour of trading," USE Director, Gaurav Arora, told reporters after the launch.
The Exchange commenced operations in the all four currency pairs allowed by SEBI-- dollar-rupee, euro-rupee, yen-rupee and pound-rupee.
Currency derivatives can be described as futures contracts between the sellers and buyers, whose values are to be derived from the underlying assets--the currency amounts.
Worldwide, currency derivatives market is bigger than equities with volumes of USD 3-trillion-a-day while India's contribution is only one per cent. Hence, there is a great prospect for growth, USE Head T S Narayanasamy said.
Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Shyamala Gopinath, who along with Sebi Chairman C B Bhave, inaugurated the bourse, said investors should start looking at currency trading as a new asset class.
Over-the-counter (OTC) activities are for those who have a underline commercial interest and want to hedge, but an instrument like this must be used by all residents, including those who want to speculate on currencies, Gopinath said.