Indian Commodity Exchange gets Sebi nod to recommence operations

The Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX), where Reliance Capital is an anchor investor, has got markets regulator Sebi's approval to recommence operations, which are expected to begin in November.

Trading on ICEX has been suspended for two years.

Earlier this week, Reliance Capital chairman Anil Ambani had announced that the firm will re-launch its commodity exchange with focus on diamond and crude oil futures. The exchange aims to make diamond futures its flagship product with potential daily turnover of over Rs 6,000 crore.

R-Next, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital, is the anchor investor and holds 26 per cent stake while state-owned MMTC owns 16 per cent stake in the exchange.

Other shareholders include Akhil Gupta, Vice-Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, Vijay Sharma of BN Enterprises and IDFC own 5 per cent each while Indian Potash has 10 per cent equity in the commodity exchange.

According to sources, ICEX has received in-principle approval from Sebi to recommence operations. It is likely to begin operations by November-end.

In consultation with Sebi and on suggestions of an expert committee headed by Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand, the government, earlier this week, added six new commodities including diamond on which derivative contracts can be launched and traded.

ICEX went live in November 2009 but the exchange volumes and revenue never matched with expenses amid intense competition from established rivals such as metals and energy bourse MCX and farm-focused exchange NCDEX, which began operations in 2003.

Apart from ICEX, Ace Commodity Exchange, promoted by Kotak Mahindra and United Commodity Exchange, owned IT firm Commex Tech also suspended trading few months after going live.