Indiabulls commodity exchangeto have six partners

HDFC Bank and Yes Bank are joining as equity partners for the Indiabulls Financial Services - MMTC commodity exchange, which will start operations in the first quarter of the next financial year.

The exchange, christened as International Multi-Commodity Exchange (IMX), will also have Indian Potash and a small trading firm among the total of six partners promoting the country’s fourth national commodity bourse.

“In all, the four partners other than MMTC and Indiabulls will have an equity stake of 34 per cent,” an MMTC official said. Initially, the commodity exchange was proposed to be a joint venture between Indiabulls (74 per cent) and MMTC (26 per cent).

However, the revised government guidelines announced on May 14 last year did not allow a single shareholder to hold more than 40 per cent share of the exchange forcing Indiabulls to look for partners for diluting the stake.

Enthused by the continuing boom in the commodity market, which has touched a turnover of Rs 50,33,857 crore last year with an impressive 28 per cent surge, many new players have entered the fray, including corporate giants Anil Ambani and Kotak groups.