Indiabulls-MMTC's bourse to commence trading from mid-Oct

Indiabulls-MMTC promoted commodity bourse ICE will commence its trading operation from mid-October.

The Indian Commodity Exchange (ICE), initially, would offer futures trading in about ten commodities including gold, silver, copper, crude oil, natural gas, guarseed, turmeric and soya oil, its Ajit Mittal told PTI.

ICE will be the country's fourth national commodity exchange after MCX, NCDEX and NMCE.

Mittal said that the regulatory approval for the exchange and the contracts are expected in the next couple of days.

"We have finalised two investors for 10 per cent equity in the exchange. We will soon complete the deal to conform with the latest shareholding guidelines," he said.

Last month, commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission had given the time till September-end to ICE to sell the remaining 10 per cent equity.

Initially, ICE was floated as a joint venture between Indiabulls and MMTC, sharing the equity stake of 74 per cent and 26 per cent respectively.

Indiabulls, hence, had to look for partners to dilute its stake after FMC issued guidelines which did not allow a single shareholder to hold more than 40 per cent stake in a commodity exchange.

So far, Indiabulls has diluted 24 per cent stake to HDFC Bank, Yes Bank and Indian Potash Ltd, sources said.