Regulator to probe commodity bourse

The commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission today said it has already set up a committee to probe the alleged irregularities in the demutualisation of the Indore-based regional commodity bourse NBOT.

“A fact-finding committee has been set up to assess the complaint filed by the Indore-based Soyabean Processors Association of India (SOPA) against the National Board of Trade (NBOT) over alleged irregularities in the demutualisation process,” FMC chairman B C Khatua told PTI.

The committee, which is still assessing the complaint, will come out with a report soon, he said, adding that the dispute between SOPA and the NBOT is going on since 2003, when the latter demutualised the exchange.

In a complaint to the FMC, SOPA has alleged that the NBOT “board has allotted 100 per cent shares at substantially lower than the market/book value to seven companies controlled and floated by (NBOT’s) chairman...Or his associates” during demutualisation.

Demutualisation is the process by which the ownership, management and trading of an exchange are separated. In a demutualised exchange, ownership vests usually with institutional investors while the management is in the hands of professionals.

SOPA has also sought the dissolution of the NBOT board and urged the FMC to nominate new directors, including a new nominee of the regulator who was not with the board of the NBOT earlier.

The NBOT was originally set up by SOPA in 1999, an industry official said. The regional exchange has major strengths in soya oil and soyabean seeds trading.