You may get to buy ETFs on China, US in GIFT City

A new investment route is opening up for Indians keen to invest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking global indices, but are exasperated by the higher prices they shell out now thanks to the limited availability of such funds in India.

- Srushti Vaidya & Anil Poste

Stock exchanges in Gujarat's GIFT City have sounded out multiple Indian asset management companies (AMCs) to gauge their interest in introducing ETFs tracking major American and Chinese indices, three people aware of the matter said. If the AMCs indeed launch such products, Indian investors will be able to buy them just like local stocks, and at a lower price than they pay for ETFs now.

"We have held a couple of discussions with them (exchanges) about launching ETFs which give access to global markets. Currently, these talks are preliminary in nature as we need to take a look at the back-end for these offerings," said an official at an AMC.

Emails sent to exchanges NSE IX and India INX which operate in GIFT City, as well as GIFT City's regulator International Financial Services Centres Authority remained unanswered.