Ministry gives fresh push to amendments in FCRA

With food inflation falling to single digit, the department of consumer affairs is making a renewed effort to get the amendments to the Forward Contracts Regulation Act (FCRA) passed in the current Budget session of Parliament.

Officials from the department said they are hopeful the amendments will be cleared in the ongoing session of the House after the recess.

The department is keeping a close watch on any sudden spike in prices of essential commodities because of a speculative activity in commodity futures exchanges.

The aim is to ensure that there is no unnatural flare-up in prices of essential commodities because of speculative activities.

 

Officials said after Wednesday’s suspension of trading in guar gum and seed, the department is also watching the price movements in mustard seed and chana futures, the two commodities which have seen volatile price movements in recent months.

Apart from the department’s own efforts, in general, the prices of most essential commodities, barring some varieties of pulses, have dropped sharply in the past few months because of a bumper harvest.

The retail price of onion has dropped almost 20 per cent in the past couple of months, while that of edible oils is also down. Prices of wheat and rice are already low on a bumper harvest and huge stocks in excess of 50 million tonnes in the central pool as on March 1.

The FCRA amendments seek to give more teeth to the commodities market regulator, the Forward Markets Commission, (FMC) to raise the number of members in FMC and allow options trading in commodities futures.