Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated India’s first international stock exchange in Gujarat. The newly established India International Exchange will trade a range of financial instruments and is based in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, a business district and finance zone being set up between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.

Speaking at the inauguration, Modi said, “this exchange is set to be among the fastest exchanges in the world with the most modern trading, clearing and settlement systems.”

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In the first phase, starting later this month, the international exchange will trade in equity, commodities, currencies and interest rate derivatives. Later it will trade equity instruments of Indian and foreign companies and masala bonds. The exchange will work 22 hours a day, starting when the Japanese markets open and will close when US markets close.

The exchange is part of the International Financial Services Centre at GIFT city, the new financial zone. “IFSC aims to provide onshore talent with an offshore technological and regulatory framework. This is to enable Indian firms to compete on an equal footing with offshore financial centres,” Modi said.

Modi said that in 2013 when he visited the Bombay Stock Exchange, he had asked them to set up an international stock exchange. In 2015, BSE signed an MoU with Gujarat to set up the exchange. “It is an important milestone not just for GIFT city but for India, in creating 21st century infrastructure,” he said.

BSE is planning to invest Rs 500 crore for trading and clearing at the international stock exchange. The international exchange aims to “reclaim some lost market share to equity-futures in Singapore, currency derivatives in Dubai and structured products in Hong Kong,” said BSE Chief Executive Officer Ashishkumar Chauhan to Bloomberg.