Trading ban on pulses will go only after Act tweak

The three-year ban on futures trading in pulses will stay for some time. The Forward Markets Commission on Friday said a decision on restarting futures trade in tur and urad will be taken only after the Forward Contracts Regulation Act (FCRA) is amended.

The amendments to FCRA — which seek to provide more powers to the commodities market regulator and clears the way for options trading in commodity futures — have been pending in Parliament. An ordinance to amend the Act lapsed after it failed to get Parliament nod within the six-month window, following which government reintroduced the amendment Bill.

“The parliamentary standing committee report is already out, indicating the price rise has no links with futures trading,” FMC Chairman Ramesh Abhishek told reporters here on the sidelines of a Global Pulses Conclave. The government, he said, is awaiting passage of the FCRA amendment Bill before taking any decision on lifting the trading ban on tur and urad.

Chana is the only pulse traded on the futures market. Both tur and urad were banned from futures trading in January 2007 to curb rising prices. There are five national — MCX, NCDEX, NMCE, ICEX and ACE — and 16 regional commodity exchanges in the country.