NSEL e-series investors to get 1st tranche of refunds

This is first pay out in e-series contract which will be made by NSEL

National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) will make a payment of Rs 140 crore in the next couple of days to its e-series investors. The rematerialisation process of the commodities offered by the investors has begun and part of the rematerialised stock  sold. The crisis-hit spot exchange has received a green signal from the Forward Markets Commission to go ahead.

This is the first payout in e-series contracts to be made by NSEL. The auction process had started on

May 8. Sources say around 90 per cent of gold stocks have been liquidated so far and now silver is being auctioned by NSEL. According to the latest available data, NSEL investors were holding 6.2 tonnes of copper in e-series, 4.9 tonnes of lead, six tonnes of zinc, 1.7 tonnes of nickel, 19.6 kg platinum, 884.4 kg gold and 4.2 tonnes of silver. While most investors are opting for cash, there are others who are opting for physical delivery of the metals they are holding.

The payment will be done on pro-rata basis by NSEL. Around 33,000 investors have their investments stuck in e-series contracts.

The e-series contracts were for delivery given to investors in demat form and most of the investments were in gold, silver and base metals like copper.

The exchange had asked for bids to sell the stocks under e-series contracts to make payments to investors.

The government banned trading in e-series metal contracts after the NSEL scam came to light in August last year. The payment crisis involved a default of Rs 5,574 crore on paired contracts, which were different from e-series contracts.