A Foreign exchange market is a market in which currencies are bought and sold. It is to be distinguished from a financial market where currencies are borrowed and lent.
General Features Foreign exchange market is described as an OTC (Over the counter) market as there is no physical place where the participants meet to execute their deals. It is more an informal arrangement among the banks and brokers operating in a financing centre purchasing and selling currencies, connected to each other by tele communications like telex, telephone and a satellite communication network, SWIFT. The term foreign exchange market is used to refer to the wholesale a segment of the market, where the dealings take place among the banks. The retail segment refers to the dealings take place between banks and their customers. The retail segment refers to the dealings take place between banks and their customers. The retail segment is situated at a large number of places. They can be considered not as foreign exchange markets, but as the counters of such markets. The leading foreign exchange market in India is Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai and Delhi is other centers accounting for bulk of the exchange dealings in India. The policy of Reserve Bank has been to decentralize exchages operations and develop broader based exchange markets. As a result of the efforts of Reserve Bank Cochin, Bangalore, Ahmadabad and Goa have emerged as new centre of foreign exchange market.
Size of the Market Foreign exchange market is the largest financial market with a daily turnover of over USD 2 trillion. Foreign exchange markets were primarily developed to facilitate settlement of debts arising out of international trade. But these markets have developed on their own so much so that a turnover of about 3 days in the foreign exchange market is equivalent to the magnitude of world trade in goods and services. The largest foreign exchange market is London followed by New