The document discusses interest rate futures (IRFs) as a financial instrument introduced in India to help various market participants, including banks and mutual funds, manage interest rate risks. It highlights how IRFs serve as hedging tools, the reasons for their prior failures, and their potential benefits for different financial players, including individual investors. Additionally, it emphasizes the role of financial planners in guiding borrowers on using IRFs to mitigate the impact of rising interest rates on loans.

1. DERIVATIVE MANAGEMENT
Interest Rate Futures –
Managing Interest Rate Risks
Considering that Interest Rate Volatility can be a major cause of concern for individuals, especially the ones who have availed
floating rate credit, it is important for Financial Planners to understand the hedging mechanism, evaluate its suitability and be
able to advice their clients in accordance.
Amar Ranu
Senior Manager, Mutual Fund Research
Motilal Oswal Securities Limited
W
ith liberalization in 1992, a new chapter was organized exchanges across all futures instruments amounted
added to the history of Indian Economy. It was the to US $ 18.5 trillion in March 2009, of which $ 17.8 trillion
time India opened its gate of vast opportunities to pertained to Interest Rate Futures. In Asia, the notional
domestic players as well as foreign players to participate in amount outstanding in Exchange Traded Interest Rate
various financial products. Liberalization created competition Futures was estimated at US $ 1.9 trillion in March 2009.
among banks, both domestic and foreign, and even among Non In India, Interest Rate Futures provide a good avenue for
Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), Asset Management different market participants such as banks, mutual funds,
Companies (AMCs) etc. Capital Markets got regulated and primary dealers, insurance companies, foreign institutional
many new products came into existence under the supervision investors and retail investors to hedge their risks and manage
of Capital Markets regulator, Securities and Exchange them effectively.
Board of India (SEBI). It was the time when products like
derivatives, structured products, corporate Bonds etc., all What are Interest Rate Futures?
came into existence. However, risks too multiplied too with An Interest Rate Future is a financial derivative with
increased trading in financial products such as derivatives, interest rate instrument as an underlying. In India, the
either as plain-vanilla or structured products. This led to underlying instrument is a 10-year notional coupon-bearing
increased gyration of interest rates. To counter the increased government security. This underlying security will pay an
volatility of interest rates, the Central Bank, Reserve Bank interest (coupon) at a rate compounded at 7 per cent on a half
of India (RBI) introduced some hedging instruments, mainly yearly basis. The various underlying assets are Government
over-the-counter (OTC) traded, such as Interest Rate Swaps of India securities with maturity ranging between 7.5
(IRS) and Forward Rate Agreements (FRA). These products years and 15 years from the first date of delivery month.
were instant hit and helped all categories of traders to hedge The unique part of the new IRF is that they are settled by
their risks. The success prompted the banking regulator to deliverable grade securities using the electronic book entry
introduce an exchange-traded product, Interest Rate Futures system of the existing depositories (NSDL and CDSL) and
(IRF), in 2003 mainly to streamline its reach to all kind of Public Debt Office (PDO) of the RBI. There are a total of
investors such as banks, insurance companies, primary 11 deliverable securities from which the deliverable baskets
dealers and provident funds. Let us discuss IRFs in detail, of securities are decided every month (See Table 1). Any of
what prompted RBI to reintroduce it, its design issues, and these recommended securities can be delivered by the seller
responses. at the end of the maturity. Here, the concept of Cheapest
to Deliver (CTD) has been introduced as liquidity in bond
Penetration of Interest Rate Futures products is not so deep. Out of 11 bonds chosen by the
Popularly known as Bond Futures, Interest rate futures exchange, the bond having less CTD will be delivered by the
globally account for the largest volume among the financial seller in the normal circumstances.
derivatives traded on exchanges worldwide. As per the The minimum lot size of the contract has been specified
data released by the Bank for International Settlement as Rs. 2,00,000. Hence, an entity having an interest rate
(June 2009), the notional principal amount outstanding in exposure of total volume of Rs. 1 crore will have to trade
MAY 2010 | FINANCIAL PLANNING JOURNAL | 42

2. DERIVATIVE MANAGEMENT
into 50 contracts. The quotation is done similar to price of For example, floating home loan borrowers are subject to
Government of India (GoI) security; day count convention is interest rate risk but do not hold G-Secs which may create
30/360 day basis. hurdles while delivery.
Table 1: Deliverable baskets of eligible G-Secs*
How it benefits the different market
Near Month June 2010 contracts Next Month Sept 2010 contracts intermediaries?
Nomenclature Maturity Date Nomenclature Maturity Date
5.69 % 2018 25-Sep-18 5.69 % 2018 25-Sep-18 a) Primary Dealers
12.60 % 2018 23-Nov-18 12.60 % 2018 23-Nov-18 Interest Rate Futures provides a superior tool to primary
5.64 % 2019 2-Jan-19 5.64 % 2019 2-Jan-19 dealers (PDs) to manage their interest rate risk and will support
6.05% GS 2019 (FEB) 2-Feb-19
6.05% GS 2019
2-Feb-19
their earning profiles. It also reduces the transaction costs,
(FEB)
and eliminates credit and settlement risks. The profitability
6.05% 2019 12-Jun-19 6.05% 2019 12-Jun-19
of PDs has always been susceptible to increased volatility in
6.90% 2019 13-Jul-19 6.90% 2019 13-Jul-19
interest rates. So, in absence of adequate hedging tools, they
6.35% 2020 2-Jan-20 6.35% 2020 2-Jan-20
*Source: NSE India
are constrained to trim down their portfolio size to contain
losses.
Why Interest Rate Futures are required in
India? b) Banks
A technical advisory committee on Money, Foreign It helps banks manage basis risk, repricing risk and yield
Exchange and Government Securities constituted by the curve risk. Yield curve risk arises when changes in market
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated that banks, insurance interest rates may have different effects on similar instruments
companies, primary dealers, and provident funds in India, with different maturities while repricing risk arises from
who among them carry around 88 per cent of interest rate mismatches in maturity and interest rate changes in a bank’s
risk on account of exposure to GoI securities, need a credible assets and liabilities. Basis risk arises when yield on assets and
institutional hedging mechanism to serve as a ‘pure hedge’ costs on liabilities are based on different benchmarks. It also
for their credit-risk-free interest rate-risk exposure. It is also helps in improving the capital adequacy ratio as hedged assets
understood that reducing the risk of holding or trading debt will require lesser risk capital allocation.
futures deepens debt markets. The IRF allows interest rate
exposure to be made redundant. For example, an entity having c) Mutual Fund
long positions in GoI securities can short them in future, Mutual Fund players may use IRFs in hedging to mitigate
thus, cancelling out the impact of interest rate fluctuations. interest rate risk for debt market mutual fund. Taking
Moreover, since, India has moved far ahead from the days positions in IRFs will diversify their portfolio which will lead
when interest rates were administered, interest rate volatility to increased sharpe ratio. It will help in increasing absolute
has been increasing over the years and in higher now than in performance of a portfolio on a risk adjusted basis over a
most developing countries of the world. So, interest rate risk specific time period. The whole process will lead to efficient
is high for many transactions. Also interest rate futures will price discovery and greater liquidity. So, the different positive
help in transmitting the monetary policy in more effective may incentivize the mutual fund players to actively pursue
way. If the impact of interest rate change is lower on banks’ the launch of new schemes.
balance sheets, they will be willing to change the lending rates
in parallel to changes in policy rates. d) Insurance Companies
Insurance companies can mitigate their interest rate
Why did Interest Rate Futures fail earlier? volatility bearing assets and liabilities by using IRFs. The
In 2003, the zero coupon yield curve used as the use of IRF will help effective management of asset-liability
underlying created too much basis risk. But now, ten-year mismatch. It will help in decreasing underwriting expenses of
G-Sec, comparatively more liquid, is used. “Moreover, earlier insurance policies and expense ratio and increase investment
the two-way movement of the policy rates was not so well yield of assets. It also provides hedge against interest rate risk
established” said, Ashima Goyal, Professor of Economics, for protection of the sum assured.
Indira Gandhi Institute of Development & Research
(IGIDR). Further, earlier G-Sec biggest buyers, banks were e) Corporate Players
not allowed earlier to trade in the segment. Also IRFs were IRFs provides low entry and exit costs for corporate
used for hedging transactions only but in the latest issue, both as against Interest Rate Swaps (IRS). It will also help in
speculators and arbitragers are to be allowed apart from pure improving the credit rating for corporate by enhancing the
hedgers. Still, the issue of concern is the physical delivery, “debt-service coverage” ratio and “interest coverage” ratio.
which is an operational issue as G-Secs are not widely held. Corporate issuing embedded bond options (call and put
MAY 2010 | FINANCIAL PLANNING JOURNAL | 43

3. DERIVATIVE MANAGEMENT
option) can manage risk against volatility in interest rates. the effective use of IRFs.
f) Retail/ HNI Investors Exchanges in India where IRFs are traded
Interest Rate Futures can be a good hedge against loans Currently, only National Stock Exchange (NSE) provides
or fixed deposits which can be of great use for retail/HNI trading platform for Interest Rate Futures and may continue
investors. It is possible to hedge loan against a rise or fall in to enjoy the first-time moving advantage. Other exchanges
interest rates but the correlation between IRFs and mortgage such as Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and Multi-Commodity
rates is not absolute. And investors will require margin money Exchange (MCX) will come out with a similar product
for buying the contract and pay for transaction costs. contract in future and may see some surprised additional
features. BSE may start providing trading platforms through
Role of Financial Planners in making its newly-launched subsidiary, the United Stock Exchange
effective use of IRFs (USE). BSE holds 15 per cent stake in USE, while the rest is
Financial Planners can help Home Loan Borrowers held by 29 other investors, including 11 banks, MMTC and
nullify the impact of rising interest rates on their home loans. Jaypee Capital.
Let us understand how retail investors can get benefitted
from IRFs. A person X is having a home loan outstanding Subdued Reponses
of Rs. 50 lakh for 10 years at an adjustable floating rate of The NSE started its trading day with a turnover of Rs.
7 per cent for an EMI of Rs. 58,054. If the bank increases 267.31 crore, its highest since its launch on Aug 31, 2009
the floating rate to 8 per cent, it will affect the cash outflow and has comparatively got lukewarm responses from market
of Mr. X due to increase in monthly EMI as shown in Table participants. The total contracts traded went down from
2. Therefore, he can manage his interest rate risk by entering 14,559 as on opening date to 6,101 as on Mar 31, 2010 (See
into IRF contract. Table 4). Some of the public sector banks which are active in
Table 2: home Loan details
IRF market are State Bank of India, Bank of India and Bank
initial Conditions
of Baroda. Bank of America has also shown some interest
home Loan Rs. 50 lakh Tenure 10 years
into it. Many banks are also in the process of getting boards’
approvals to enter the IRF space, so, the market may take
Interest Rate 7% EMI Rs. 58,054
around two-three quarter to see a rise in volumes. Moreover,
Current Situation
with BSE and MCX entering into the race, the market will
Interest Rate 11% Tenure 10 years
have a balanced and competitive trading.
New EMi Rs. 60,664 ↑Rs. 2,609 (Monthly)
Loss on home Loan Rs. 313080 (2609×120) Table 4: Trading history of iRFs - Subdued Responses
Open
Total Contracts Value
Trade Date Interest
(volume) (Rs. Crores)
Mr. X sells 25 contracts of IRF (25×2,000×100) = Rs. 50 Position
lakhs on April 15, 2010. The hedging details are as given in 31-Aug-09 14559 267.31 1893
Table 3. Sep-09 79648 73.67 83824
Table 3: hedging Details Oct-09 100846 93.37 203360
initial Conditions Nov-09 18134 16.84 128246
Trade Date 15-Apr-10 Interest Rate 7% Dec-09 11687 10.25 103833
Futures Price Rs. 100 Margin Paid Rs. 12,500 (2.5%) Jan-10 6443 5.94 50587
After increase in interest Rate Feb-10 3124 3.02 58255
Trade Date 25-May-10 Interest Rate 8% Mar-10 6101 5.56 61342
Futures Price Rs. 93.21
Profits on Futures (100-93.21)*2000*25 = Rs. 3,39,500 Conclusion
Loss on home Loan (2609×120 months) = Rs. 3,13,080 The introduction of trading in interest rate futures aims
Gross Gain (3,39,500-3,13,080) = Rs. 26,420 towards integration of the Indian Securities Market with
Net Gain (26,420 - 12,500) = Rs. 13,920 outside world and also provides a competitive platform to
market intermediaries to minimize different kinds of risk
Similarly, if a borrower has taken a fixed rate loan, he can directly related to interest rates. The launch of interest rate
convert his outstanding into floating rate by making use of futures trading will widen the country’s bond market and
IRFs. Here, he will buy into IRFs. Thus, he will get into the volumes in government and corporate bond market will go
benefit of reduced interest rate, if any. Thus, we see that IRFs up in near future. Moreover, the new contracts, unlike in
can be a potential tool for borrowers which can hedge their 2003, have been redesigned to make them more liberal and
interest rate risks and give a peace of mind. Here, Financial banks and foreign investors too have been allowed to trade.
Planners can play an important role in educating borrowers amar.ranu@motilaloswal.com
MAY 2010 | FINANCIAL PLANNING JOURNAL | 44