Norms eased for commexes to get WDRA warehouse accreditation

To speed up the process, the government has relaxed norms for commodity exchanges towards registration and accreditation of warehouses with regulator Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA).
In the wake of the payment crisis at the National Spot Exchange (NSEL), commodity markets regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) in a circular on August 30 last year had made it mandatory for all warehouses to register and get accredited with WDRA.
FMC had also directed all the exchanges to accredit only these registered warehouses. However, against the target of 360, only 40 warehouses have been registered with WDRA so far.
"The WDRA has taken various steps to ensure faster registration of warehouses. WDRA has issued revised norms for accreditation of warehouses by which requirement about insurance, laboratory and testing requirements, plinth height requirements, fire fighting mechanisms, have been relaxed," FMC said in its latest report.

Further, WDRA has also relaxed the requirement of submission of registered lease deed/rent agreement for warehouses, wherein the unregistered lease deed/ rent agreement which clearly mentions that the warehouse is in possession of warehouse service provider (WSP) would be accepted by WDRA for the purpose of registration, it said.
"All these initiatives will expedite the process of registration of warehouses with WDRA and will go a long way in strengthening the warehousing system in the commodity futures market," the regulator FMC said.

In November, FMC came out with uniform norms for accreditation of warehouse services providers by the commodity exchanges to ensure credibility of warehouses and the warehousing receipts issued by them.

Commodity bourses at present follow different norms while giving accreditation to warehouses on their platform.
In the last few months, FMC has taken several measures to strengthen warehouse facilities.