However, Sanjay said the IPSTA board, which met here early last week, has taken some urgent steps to save the exchange from a crisis. He said the management has decided to appoint a committee to explore the possibility of setting up a guarantee fund. The two-member committee consists of Goutham Doshi, a Mumbai-based consultant and Suryanarayanan, former secretary of IPSTA.

The mandate for the two-member team is to prepare a report for setting up a guarantee fund for the futures contract entered into on the exchange. The committee would decide whether IPSTA would provide guarantee through the First Commodity Clearing Corporation of India (FCCCI), the clearing arm of the International Commodity Exchange managed by IPSTA, or by setting up a separate guarantee fund for the domesticsegment. Following the denial for starting July and August futures, the pepper trade at present is confined to only May and June futures. The pepper trading community is in for a crisis following the FMC denial for permission to start new contracts. Trade sources said that it is for the first time that the exchange is facing such a crisis. Earlier, FMC used to automatically sanction futures contract once a contract ends. Usually the futures contracts end on 15th of that month.IPSTA had applied for opening the July and August contracts way back in February. Usually, the July contract must have opened on February 15 itself. IPSTA bylaws permit the exchange to run up to six contracts simultaneously.