Exchanges want commodities transaction tax scrapped

Exchanges have lost 60% of their volume to unofficial trading following the tax imposition

Traders and exchanges have urged Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to scrap the commodities transaction tax and allow eligible participants and instruments to deepen the futures markets.

Since the commodities transaction tax was implemented on July 1, 2013, exchanges have lost 60 per cent of their volume to unofficial trading. Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) and National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE), had a cumulative turnover of Rs 68,14,460 crore in 2016. 

A seller of any commodity has to pay Rs 1,000 as commodities transaction tax for every Rs 1 crore of turnover generated on an