Commexes Apr-July turnover up 14%

The turnover of the commodity exchanges rose 14 per cent to Rs 22.86 lakh crore in the first four months of the current fiscal despite fall in trade volumes in gold and silver, according to the Forward Markets Commission (FMC).

These exchanges had generated a business of Rs 20.07 lakh crore in the same period last year, it said.

Barring bullion, there was increase in the turnover in agriculture, metals and energy commodities in the April-July period of 2015-16 fiscal, the data maintained by the commodities markets regulator FMC showed.

The business from bullion fell 7.16 per cent to Rs 6.66 lakh crore in April-July of this fiscal from Rs 7.18 lakh crore in the year-ago period due to sluggish price trends.

However, the turnover from energy items like crude oil increased significantly by 50 per cent to Rs 6.46 lakh crore from Rs 4.31 lakh crore, while the business from metals like copper rose over 15 per cent to Rs 5.10 lakh crore from Rs 4.41 lakh crore in April-July period of 2014-15 fiscal.

Similarly, the turnover from agricultural commodities increased 12 per cent to Rs 4.63 lakh crore in April-July of this fiscal from Rs 4.15 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

FMC has allowed exchanges to use interest earned from the investor protection fund for maintenance of Price Ticker Boards (PTB) till the PTBs are taken over by the state governments.

Currently, there are three national and six regional commodities bourses operating in the country.