The commodities market regulator, Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has urged the government to ease various curbs and controls on the commodities market to help it function smoothly and has also sought early passage of the Forward Contract Regulation Amendment (FCRA) Act which would grant more powers to the regulator.
Talking to FE, FMC chairman, BC Khatua, whose tenure was extended by one-year last week, said one big endeavour of his in the next one-year would be to complete some of the unfinished work from his first stint which include early passage of Forward Contract Regulation Amendment Act, which has been in oblivion for the last several years.
An ordinance clearing the amendments in the bill ? which gave more powers to the FMC along with other provisions?was allowed to lapse as Parliament failed to pass the bill. Since then the bill has been gathering dust.
On the recent FMC directive asking exchanges to discontinue with the practice of sub-brokers, Khatua said that step was needed in order to check proliferation of unauthorized persons dealing in commodities.
?We had received some complaints and audit reports that such sub-brokers were acting against the true spirit of that markets,? he said, adding that the exchanges have been given adequate time to discontinue the service. ?Sub-brokers do perform a good service in areas where brokerage firms cannot reach, but it should be done by authorized persons,? the chairman said. On the spurt in the number of national commodity exchanges, the FMC chairman said he welcome such a development, but won?t like to have a marathon race of exchanges.