Commexes' turnover dips by 7.32% till May 15 of this fiscal

Much of the business camr from futures trading in agricultural commodities, metals and energy items

The turnover of commodity exchanges dipped by 7.32% to Rs 18.49 lakh crore till May 15 of this fiscal due to sluggish trade in gold and silver futures, the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) said.

The business of the commodity exchanges stood Rs 19.95 lakh crore in the same period last year, the commodity markets regulator FMC said on its website.

Barring bullion, much of the business came from futures trading in agricultural commodities, metals and energy items.

According to the FMC data, bullion trade fell by over 34% to Rs 8,48,489 crore till May 15 of the 2012-13 fiscal, as against Rs 12,86,538 crore in the year-ago.

However, the turnover from agricultural futures rose by 50.23% to Rs 2,60,887 crore from Rs 1,73,661 crore, while the business futures trading in metals like copper grew by 41% to Rs 4,07,707 crore from Rs 2,89,072 crore during the review period.

FMC said the turnover from energy items also rose by 35% to Rs 3,31,998 crore till May 15 of this fiscal from Rs 2,45,841 crore in the year-ago period.

At present, there are five national level commodity exchanges and 15 regional level bourses in the country.

In 2011-12 fiscal, the commodity exchanges had registered a business of Rs 181.26 lakh crore.