"We will be linking the futures exchange to the CBoT in about two years from now," Sopa chairman Harsh Maheshwari said. Sopa was likely to kick off trading at the soya exchange coming up at Indore in Madhya Pradesh in the next two months, he said.

The Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has already cleared the memorandum of articles of association of exchange and the bye-laws were expected to be cleared soon, he said.

Sopa director (futures trading) Jeyakumar AS said the association had finalised the modules and limit of trading to be permitted at the exchange.

The institutional clearing member to be appointed by the association would also act as the clearing bank of the exchange, hesaid.

Leading banks like ABN-Amro, HDFC, Centurion Bank and the State Bank of India (SBI) are in fray to become the only institutional clearing member, he said. Jeyakumar said the association was in the process of identifying software vendors for putting in place its online trading system and added that the exchange would be completely online in about eight months time.

Maheshwari said the association has also sought the permission of the consumer affairs ministry to include all edible oilseeds, oil and meals under the exchange.

Following government's decision to allow futures trading all the major edible oils and oilseeds, a number of industry associations including Sopa and the Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) have evinced interest in setting up bourses.

The association would set up its delivery centres for the exchange at Indore, Bhopal, Nagpur and Kota, Jeyakumar said. Certified central warehousing concept sought to be introduced by the association would ensure guaranteed performance in termsof delivery and maintenance of contractual obligations, he added.

The association is hopeful of generating a trade turnover of Rs 10,000 crore per annum, he said. While a trading member would have to shell out a total of Rs 3 lakh as membership fee, a trading and clearing member would be required to furnish a cash deposit of Rs 6 lakh, besides a membership fee of Rs 3 lakh and a bank guarantee Rs 4 lakh, he added.