The Reserve Bank of India has proposed the setting up of a foreign exchange platform for retail participants on the pattern of the FX-Clear platform of the Clearing Corporation of India. The central bank feels this would encourage transparent and fair pricing in the retail forex market. It has released a discussion paper in this regard. The paper proposes that the retail market will have the same market hours as the interbank market (9am to 5pm) and the minimum order size would be $1,000 and thereafter in multiples of $500. The maximum order size would be $500,000. The participants in the interbank segment are banks and transactions in this segment are conducted through trading platforms like FXT-D2 and FX-Clear. Retail customers with a need to buy/sell forex, currently do so over the phone with a bank. While proprietary electronic dealing platforms of individual banks and Multi-Bank Portals (MBPs) are also available, access to them is restricted to retail customers with a minimum order size. The proposed platform would provide access to retail customers through an internet based application where bid/offers from customers and banks can be matched anonymously and automatically.
