Product innovation key theme in commodity exchange space: MCX

The commodity market may see product innovations and has huge untapped opportunities in options, indices and derivatives like weather and freight, going forward, a senior industry official said today.
"Product innovations in the commodity markets will be the leading differentiator in the commodity exchange space, going forward. From options to indices to exotic derivatives like weather and freight, this market has huge opportunities still lying untapped," Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) Managing Director and Chief Executive Mrugank Paranjape said.
He was speaking at the Financial Markets Conclave 2016 organised here by Dun & Bradstreet (DB), a provider of global business information, knowledge and insights, in association with LIC.

Paranjape said human resources and technology will be the leading enablers in providing operational efficiency to the entire ecosystem of product innovation.
Speaking on the topic of 'regulatory landscape', Mamta Suri, Chief General Manager (finance), Irdai said, "There are 55 insurance companies, 9 in the public sector, and the rest in the private sector. The share capital of insurance industry is Rs 40,000 crore. We are broadening the distribution channels so that insurance sector penetration grows and reaches the grassroots level."
On leveraging the new bond platform (BSE BOND) to raise debt, Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD and CEO of BSE, said, "Finance is the only activity which connects present with the future. In the last 15 years, less number of people are coming into the stock markets. We started a new framework, where nearly Rs 7,000 crore was transferred to mutual funds."

Although regulations have changed, the mutual funds sector is ramping up very rapidly, Chauhan said.
Preeta Misra, Director - Learning Solutions, DB India felt that making available financial facilities to the bottom level is still a challenge. "The ecosystem is changing rapidly. New players like Fintech have entered and customers are now equipped with knowledge," Misra added.
The event also saw a panel discussion on 'Distribution of financial products: the way forward'. Representatives from institutions pivotal to promoting financial inclusion such as Anand Rathi Group, Kotak Securities, HDFC Standard Life Insurance, Deutsche Bank, CAMS Repository Services and ICICI Securities took part in the discussion.