The National Stock Exchange's derivatives segment recorded the highest jump in trading volumes in the world in 2002. The exchange witnessed a 615 per cent rise in derivatives trading in 2002, partly on account of a lower base.

The exchange has seen a sharp rise in derivatives volumes following the introduction of stock futures in November 2001. On October 14, 2003, it recorded an all-time high turnover of Rs 12,506.53 crore (Rs 125.06 billion).

According to the recently released annual capital market review by the Bombay Stock Exchange, the NSE is the 11th biggest exchange in the world in terms of the increase in the number of contracts traded in 2002. MexDer posted the biggest jump in interest/bond derivatives followed by the Malaysian Derivative Exchanges.

Interestingly, the Asia-Pacific leads with a 36 per cent share of the world derivatives market. The Korea Stock Exchange, which doubled its large option volumes, contributed significantly to the growth.

Other dominant markets include North America (32 per cent), Europe (28 per cent), South Africa (3 per cent) and Africa and West Asia (1 per cent).

Stock options are the largest traded segment among equity derivatives in North America, South America and Europe. In the Asia-Pacific, it is index options.

In 2002, the world derivatives market grew 39 per cent, with options posting a higher growth of 47 per cent, against the 26 per cent posted by futures. The total contracts traded worldwide in 2002 exceeded 600 crore (6 billion).

Of this, 390 crore (3.9 billion) were in options and 210 crore (2.1 billion) in futures. Equity index futures constitute 47 per cent of the worldwide derivatives volumes, followed by stocks futures at 23 per cent.