The turnover of commodity exchanges rose for the first time this fiscal in the second fortnight of November, according to the latest FMC data. Although the turnover went up 8.3% to R8.32 lakh crore in the second fortnight of November, trading value during the April-November period this fiscal was still down 48% from a year before.

Trading in high-value products such as bullion, energy and metals — the worst performing segments in the futures market this fiscal — rebounded in November, boosting the overall turnover of various exchanges.

The turnover of bullion trading across exchanges rose 3.5% during the second fortnight of November. However, it was still down 58.5% year-on-year since April, mainly due to a steep fall earlier this fiscal. Similarly, trading in energy futures was the best performer last fortnight with a 57.1% rise in turnover, although the segment has still witnessed a 47.5% fall since April. Interestingly, the trading value of farm commodities dropped the most (41.6%) in the last fortnight from a year before.

The latest rise in the trading of bullion and energy futures augur well for MCX, which primarily deals in metals and energy products.
Earlier, analysts had blamed a 0.01% of transaction tax on non-farm commodity derivatives, imposed since last July, the spill-over effect of a settlement crisis at the National Spot Exchange (NSEL) and an investor shift towards equity for the plunge in the overall turnover across exchanges. The FMC data showed that the turnover of various exchanges during the April 1-November 30 period was still down at R39.88 lakh crore.

NCDEX gets nod for 17 more contracts
The Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has allowed the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) to launch 17 more futures contracts.

The contracts are in cotton (29 mm), barley, castor seed, chilli, coriander, crude palm oil, chana, guar gum, guar seed, jeera, rapeseed-mustard seed, refined soyaoil, shankar kapas, soybean, turmeric, cotton seed oil-cake and wheat, the commodity futures market regulator said on Wednesday.

Norms for warehouse accreditation relaxed
The Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) has relaxed certain norms to expedite the process of registration as well as accreditation of warehouses.

“The WDRA has taken various steps to ensure faster registration of warehouses. WDRA has issued revised norms for accreditation of warehouses by which requirement about insurance, laboratory and testing requirements, plinth height requirements, fire fighting mechanisms, have been relaxed,” the FMC said in its latest report, citing a meeting of WDRA chairman with various warehouse service providers on November 27.

“Further, WDRA has also relaxed the requirement of submission of registered lease deed/rent agreement for warehouses, wherein the unregistered lease deed/ rent agreement which clearly mentions that the warehouse is in possession of warehouse service provider (WSP) would be accepted by WDRA for the purpose of registration,” the report said.

The government made it mandatory for warehouses to register with the WDRA after the R5,600-crore settlement crisis at the National Spot Exchange (NSEL) last year.

Last month, the FMC issued uniform norms for accreditation of warehouse services providers by the commodity exchanges to ensure credibility of warehouses and the warehousing receipts issued by them. Currently, commodity exchanges follow different norms while giving accreditation to warehouses on their platform.