Relaxed Currency Derivatives Norms to Bring More Arbitrage Opportunities Move likely to deepen domestic currency market and make it more popular among overseas investors Easier currency derivative rules have helped traders exploit the opportunities of arbitrage between rates in the overseas options markets and those back home. In effect, the arbitrage is helping deepening the domestic currency market, which is increasingly becoming a preferred destination for overseas investors. The option premium, or the cost of insurance against volatility, is about 50 basis points less than the offshore market across various currency pairs – the rupee-dollar, rupee-pound, rupee-yen, and the rupee-euro. “Arbitragers have found a new destination – the options market,” said Anindya Banerjee, currency analyst at Kotak Securities. “With more space available, they are now betting between the offshore and domestic exchange traded options markets. This will help deepen the currency derivative mark