NCDEX under FMC scanner on anchor investor rules

The National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) has yet to respond satisfactorily to earlier directives on its shareholders not trading on the exchange, says the Forward Markets Commission (FMC).

The exchange, a leader in agri-commodity futures, had enrolled Gaurav Arora of Jaypee Capital Services as anchor shareholder last October and he was allotted shares at a discounted price.

After his entry, trade volumes had increased significantly (turnover up 33 per cent since November) but the largest volume generator has been Jaypee itself.

FMC officials say they were inspecting if the regulations governing shareholder trades on the same exchange were violated or not. Arora said he had complied with all regulations and even restructured the ownership of his holding company.

FMC didn’t seem impressed and, early this month, issued a fresh directive to NCDEX to ensure the new shareholder complied with the FMC norms.

“We had asked Jaypee Capital to change the name of the trading member company and transfer the ownership to someone who is not a family member of and/or close relative of the present owner, Gaurav Arora. And, we had asked NCDEX to clarify on the issue. They said they would comply with the guidelines,” said FMC chairman, B C Khatua.

It is for NCDEX to clarify if Jaypee was trading on that exchange after Arora became shareholder. An NCDEX spokesperson declined to comment on the issue. When asked, Arora said: “We have complied with all the regulations of the FMC and will continue to do so.”