"We have asked the exchange authorities to find out the root cause of the problem and take immediate steps to rectify them," FMC chairman Aggarwal told The Financial Express.

The commission feels there is a general lack of interestamong the members of IPSTA to trade in the international exchange. Though they are active in the domestic segment, they do not show interest in the working of the international segment, feels FMC.

Another point that attracted FMC's attention was the trade practices at ICE. The commodity market regulator has asked the bourse to put in place an effective guarantee system for contract to secure the trade done through the exchange. At present, IPSTA is not guaranteeing trade in both domestic and international segments and is only charging marginal amount from traders. The FMC chairman has also asked the exchange to prepare for a change in view of the new trade environment. The exchange was asked to figure out the lacunae in the trading practices and rectify them to kickstart the ailing international exchange which completed 18 months of existence.

Following FMC's directive, IPSTA management is gearing up to script a revival strategy for ICE. IPSTA management council would meet in the second week of April tochalk out the bail out plan for ICE, association president Sanjay Mariwala told The Financial Express.

The bourse management feels the trade in ICE could be kicked off once proper systems guaranteeing trade and other related facilities are put in place. IPSTA management is giving top priority to kick off the dollar-denominated contracts in ICE. The bourse has got the FMC nod to start dollar contracts last year. However, FMC then had asked the association to make suitable amendments in tune with the demands of dollar contracts. The association had since then been working on these lines, Sanjay said. IPSTA is likely to rope in an international consultancy firm to help it put the dollar contract in place. Trader sources, however, feel the IPSTA management may have to control the trade in both the domestic and international segments stringently to avoid any breakdown. Pepper prices have been on a roller-coaster ride in the exchange for the past few months. "Unbridled speculation is causing havoc in the market.The management should control the activity of the players more stringently," a prominent exporter said. Exporters, who had sold their position anticipating a crash in prices were badly hurt, following the volatility. The volume on the exchange has also dipped considerably during this year compared to the same period of last year.