The wait is now over for the US investors who wants to bet on

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the Indian stock markets, with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange starting the trade in Nifty Futures from tomorrow.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is introducing two new contracts -- E-mini and E-micro S&P CNX Nifty (Nifty 50) Futures -- designed to access the Indian market opportunities.

The 50-share Nifty is the benchmark index of the National Stock Exchange, the largest stock exchange in the country. The index accounts for 22 sectors of the economy.

Investors would be able to trade for nearly 23 hours on the CME Globex. These hours include the market hours in India (except the last one hour before the Indian market opens).

"The introduction of these two new contracts will make the Nifty 50 available to a much larger community of traders and investors across various exchanges and time zones," NSE managing director and CEO Ravi Narain had said last week.

According to NSE, these new contracts are intended to give investors a more efficient means to gain exposure to the India-related asset classes. A futures contract is an agreement that allows an investor to bet on the underlying asset —- an index or stock —- for a pre-determined price and period.

CME is launching the future contracts on the Nifty, after a cross-listing agreement with NSE.

Under the agreement, inked in March this year, the S&P Nifty has been made available to the CME for the creation and listing of the US dollar-denominated futures contracts for trading on CME.

Under the deal, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and S&P 500 --the two leading US indices-- would be traded on the NSE platform in India.

The CME owns the rights to S&P and DJIA and has given the licence to NSE for trade in futures contracts on indices.

NSE is waiting the approval from market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India for launching futures contracts in the S&P 500 Index.

When asked about the possible timeframe for the launch of S&P 500 futures in India, the NSE spokesperson told PTI that the exchange is awaiting regulatory approval and will start after receiving that.

The Bombay Stock Exchange has also announced the launch of derivativecontracts in the benchmark Sensex on the Eurex-- the Frankfurt-based derivatives bourse -- from October 4.