Mumbai: the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has inked a letter of intent with London Stock Exchange (LSE) to evaluate cross listing of index products as well as explore joint strategic opportunities.

Both the bourses have explored the possibility of a cross-listing agreement of their flagship indices.

The letter of intent was signed on Wednesday by Xavier Rolet, chief executive of LSE and Chitra Ramakrishna, joint managing director of NSE in presence of George Osborne, chancellor of the exchequer of the United Kingdom.

?We are optimistic about India?s remarkable growth story and feel strongly that a business relationship with India?s leading stock exchange opens exciting investment opportunities for Indian investors in international companies as well as giving international investors greater opportunities to participate in India’s growth,? said Rolet.

While FTSE Group may license the FTSE 100 index to the NSE, the bourse would license the Nifty to LSE for trading option contracts. Initially, only Nifty options will be considered for listing at LSE as NSE already has licensed Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) for trading Nifty futures contracts.

This will be the second international product that NSE is trying to bring into India. As per its previous agreement with CME, NSE received the exclusive license to trade futures contract of S&P 500 and Dow Jones indices in the Indian market.

Interestingly, MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX), which is awaiting regulatory approval from Sebi to commence trading in equity and other instruments, has already entered into a commercial agreement with FTSE in July 2009 for bringing a set of international FTSE indices to be listed on MCX-SX. FTSE, the global index provider, is a 50:50 joint venture between LSE and Financial Times.

When asked about the current status of the earlier agreement between FTSE and MCX-SX, Ibukun Adebayo, head of primary markets, India and international business development for LSE, said the earlier agreement is in a ?much progressed? stage. ?As of now, LSE is exploring the opportunity to list FTSE 100 only in NSE,? he added.

In addition to the cross listing of products, NSE will also seek LSE?s expertise in creating a separate platform for small and medium enterprises.

<a href="http://www.financialexpress.com/news/NSE–London-bourse-ink-cross-listing-pact/653077/tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.financialexpress.com/news/NSE–London-bourse-ink-cross-listing-pact/653077/Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:53:07 GMT 00:00″>NSE, London bourse ink cross-listing pact