Misra told The Financial Express that the Government would soon clear the proposal to set up a nationwide futures exchange in the country. To this end, the ministries of consumer affairs and public distribution have already constituted a three-member core group headed by Misra. SBI Caps managing director Birendra Kumar and RBI advisor N Nagarajan would be the other members. A report from the core group on the issue is expected soon, he said.pMisra said,``The proposed online exchange will have a screen-based trading system on all commodities which come under futures trading. This will be along the lines of the National Stock Exchange (NSE).'' He said the national multi-commodities futures exchange would have a separate identity. ``The exchange will exist separately and it may or may not be linked with other single commodities exchanges,'' he said.

The exchange would be set up and run by a consortium of private companies with an estimated investment of Rs 70 crore. ``A large number of commodities and non-commodities corporates have evinced interest to be promoters of the exchange. The consortium will set up the required infrastructure for the exchange and run it,'' he said. Other details on the infrastructure network were yet to be worked out, he said.

The Centre would shortlist a group of firms within a month. However, he added, ``It might take a year or so for the exchange to kick off its activities.'' Currently, the country has 18 FMC approved commodities futures exchanges trading in potato, gur (jaggery), castor seeds, cotton, jute, black pepper, coffee and soyabean. There were 24 exchanges originally, however, FMC did not continue their licences as they were not functioning as per the FMC regulations, Misra said.

Regarding raw coffee trading at The Coffee Futures Exchange of India (Cofei) in Bangalore, Misra said he had a discussion with the chairman of Coffee Board on Friday and a final decision on the matter would be taken in a month's time. He said it was an achievement that Cofei could attract over 600-plus members besides a large number of coffee growers to sign up since its inception 18 months ago. On new commodities which were being brought under futures trading, he said the Government had recently cleared eight major oilseeds and their oils and oilcakes. The oilseeds include groundnuts, sun flower and mustard among others.

Misra was here in the city on Saturday to participate in a two-day seminar on futures trading organised jointly by FMC and Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore. This was the fourth such seminar organised by FMC during the last five months. He said the objective of the workshop was to strengthen the institutional capacities of commodities exchanges and the regulatory bodies with a view to making existing exchanges vibrant and efficient. The commission would hold two more such expositions in the country during the calendar, he said.