ICEX gets 250 members

Indian Commodity Exchange Ltd (ICEX), which will go live soon, has enlisted 250 members. The majority of the members have been approved by the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) and the unique codes have been allotted.

ICEX is the fourth national level exchange being promoted by Indiabulls Financial Services and MMTC. It is a public-private partnership project, with Indiabulls Financial Services holding a 40 per cent stake, and the state-owned MMTC controlling 26 per cent.

ICEX conforms to the government guidelines on ownership criteria for demutualised exchanges.

Sources said that to maintain a complete arms length relationship with promoters and to avoid any potential conflict of interest, Indiabulls Securities, a broking entity, has not been enrolled as a member of the exchange, although it is an independently listed and completely separate corporate entity, having no beneficial interest in the exchange.

This was done to dispel any misgivings that the broking community might have regarding the integrity and transparency of the exchange platform.

The commodity exchange today received FMC’s approval for 10 contracts in gold, silver, natural gas, crude oil, copper cathode and lead in the non-farm sector; and guar seed, mustard, soy and turmeric in the farm sector, which will be launched soon with its inauguration likely by November end.

It has also received the regulatory nod to fix a flat concessional transaction fee of Re 1 for every Rs 1 lakh of the contract value, irrespective of the slab.