"Trading at the cotton futures exchange will begin either on October 30 or 31," civil supplies and consumer affairs secretary NN Mookherjee said.

But the exchange would be formally inaugurated only after some time, he said, since the food and civil supplies minister Surjit Singh Barnala is unavailable for the inauguration ceremony right now.

Mock trading has already begun on the exchange from October 14 and so far has proved satisfactory, Mookherjee said.

"The traders have started learning how to trade on the futures exchange after being out of touch for over three decades," he said.

Cotton futures is being revived after 36 years; it has been banned since 1962.

Government had given the go-ahead for revival of cotton futures trading last year, along with international futures for castor oil and for other jute goods.

Mookherjee, who visitedMumbai last week to witness the mock trading, said the members of the proposed exchange were trying to pick up the nuances of trading.

"There is some gap in understanding but they are learing fast," he said.

A heartening feature of revival of the exchange was that more and more young members were taking part in trading, he said.

The cotton exchange was expected to commence trading by diwali but these plans had to be put off due to procedural delays, including obtaining clearance from the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) for trading norms.

When the East India Cotton Exchange (EICA), the prime force behind cotton futures revival, intially submitted the trading norms proposal, FMC returned it with some changes.

EICA had then called an emergency meeting of its members last month to bring about the necessary changes in trading norms.

FMC's clearance finally came during the last week of September. As per the trading norms, staple length and micron of cotton would determine trade and notvarieties.

Apart from the cotton exchange, domestic futures for soyabean, soya oil and soyacake besides international futures for castor oil are also scheduled to commence within an year.