ICICIdirect.com, the largest online trading platform in India, today announced the launch of its online Futures and Options (F&O) trading facility for NRIs.

This first-of-its-kind online facility offers safe and secure transactions through its fully integrated trading site.

This launch provides an exciting opportunity for NRI customers to create short term trading positions and benefit from market volatility.

F&O would act as an effective tool for risk management & hedging by reducing potential downside.

Apart from online trading, customers can also avail convenient CallNTrade(R) facility. Customers would be supported through timely trading strategies from an award winning research team.

The firm is embarking on massive educational campaigns & customer empowerment for its NRI customers at various overseas locations with special emphasis on F&O trading.

Anup Bagchi, executive director - ICICI Securities Ltd said, 'ICICIdirect.com has always believed in empowerment of  its customers by providing convenient and hassle free trading services along with appropriate advisory service.'

'The GCC region is home to a large population of Non Resident Indians. The present strength of Indian community in UAE is around 1.4 million. It is estimated that about 33 per cent of the total population and over 50 per cent of the work force in the UAE are Indians.'

'In Bahrain nearly 290,000 Indian nationals form the largest expatriate community. This provides the right platform for us to launch this type of product and focus on GCC.'

'We have been providing advisory and investment solutions to the NRI community in GCC for a long time now, and it has been well received. With the launch of NRI F&O , we are further reinforcing our organisation focus and commitment to serve  NRI community & GCC region and empower our customers to take educated decisions that will enable them to maximize the benefits of investing their money.'

Vishal Gulechha, head Product Equity - ICICI Securities Ltd said, 'F&O are critical financial instruments for risk management as they allow risks to be separated and more precisely controlled from volatile and uncertain situations.'

'This provides NRI's unique opportunity to capitalise even in falling markets and other volatile situations. Premium NRI customers can take special advantage of our expert advisory services from our Equity Advisory Group (EAG) in trading in F&O and implement beneficial strategies.'
 
ICICIdirect.com is the leader in the online share trading space with over 1.7 million customers. The firm has a unique distinction of catering to wide NRI customer base from over 100 countries ranging from GCC, Europe, South East Asia and Africa.

The firm has been consistently winning prestigious awards for a brokerage firm among which to name a few are Outlook Money - India's Best e-Brokerage and CNBC AWAZ Consumer Award for the Most Preferred Brand of Financial Advisory Services.-Reuters