Commexes' turnover down 50% at Rs 37 lakh cr so far this fiscal

Bullion takes biggest fall at 60%, energy, metals among other big losers

The turnover of commodity exchanges declined by 50 per cent at Rs 37 lakh crore in the April-November period of this fiscal year due to sluggish trade volumes in almost all commodities, according to Forward Markets Commission (FMC).

These exchanges generated a business of Rs 74.16 lakh crore in the same period of corresponding year, the regulator FMC said in its latest report.

The business fell in bullion, metals, energy and agricultural commodities during the April-November period of 2014-15 fiscal.

The turnover from bullion declined by 60 per cent to Rs 13.14 lakh crore till November 15 of this financial year from Rs 33.15 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

Similarly, the turnover from energy items like crude oil fell by 51 per cent to Rs 8.90 lakh crore from Rs 18.05 lakh crore, while the business from metals like copper dropped by 41 per cent to Rs 7.94 lakh crore from Rs 13.51 lakh crore in the review period.

The turnover from agricultural commodities also declined over 25 per cent to Rs 7.05 lakh crore in April-November of this year, against Rs 9.43 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

Experts attributed the fall in trade volumes to poor participation in view of higher transaction cost, especially after the imposition of commodity transaction tax (CTT) from July 1, 2013.

That part, investor sentiments took a beating after Rs 5,600 crore scam surfaced at spot exchange NSEL, they added.

There are four national and six regional-level commodity exchanges operating in the country.