BSE, one of India's two principal stock exchanges, has signed an agreement with global index provider MSCI to explore the launch of futures and options contracts linked to indexes, CNBC-TV18 reported on August 19, 2026.

The exchange said the strategic step will support its role in further developing the Indian capital market. BSE will explore the launch of index-linked derivatives in India, subject to the required regulatory approvals. The announcement is exploratory in nature: no specific contracts, index names or launch timelines have been disclosed, and any eventual product would still depend on regulatory clearance and further agreement between the two companies.

MSCI Inc., headquartered in New York, is one of the world's leading providers of index, analytics and research services. Its benchmarks are widely tracked by institutional investors globally and serve as the basis for a broad range of investment products, including exchange-traded funds. Indian equities are represented in MSCI's index families through the MSCI India Index, which feeds into widely followed benchmarks such as the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, where India carries one of the largest single-country weights. Licensing third-party benchmarks for derivatives is an established global practice, with exchanges around the world offering futures and options tied to indexes alongside contracts on their own benchmarks.

BSE, formerly known as the Bombay Stock Exchange, was established in Mumbai in 1875 and is Asia's oldest stock exchange. Its flagship benchmark is the S&P BSE SENSEX. BSE operates alongside the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), with both venues offering trading in equities, derivatives and other instruments. In India's equity derivatives segment, NSE currently accounts for the bulk of trading volumes, anchored to its benchmark Nifty 50 contracts, while BSE's derivatives offering is built around its SENSEX-linked indexes.

In India, the securities and derivatives markets are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and new exchange products such as index futures and options typically require regulatory clearance before they can be launched. For a partnership involving a global index provider, any proposed contracts would go through this same approval process before becoming available to traders.

Futures and options are derivative contracts whose value is derived from an underlying asset, such as an equity index, and are used by market participants for hedging and other trading strategies.

Source: CNBC-TV18 Markets