Cognitive radio (CR) technology addresses the problem of spectrum under-utilization. In underlay CR mode, the secondary users are allowed to communicate provided that their transmission is not detrimental to primary user communication. Transmit antenna selection is one of the low-complexity methods to increase the capacity of wireless communication systems. In this article, we propose and analyze the performance benefit of a transmit antenna selection scheme for underlay secondary system that ensures the instantaneous interference caused by the secondary transmitter to the primary receiver is below a predetermined level. Closed-form expressions of the secondary link outage probability, higher order amount of fading, and ergodic capacity are derived for the proposed scheme. Monte-carlo simulations are also carried out to confirm various mathematical results presented in this article.