NCDEX may seek anchor investor, says CEO

National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), partly owned by Goldman Sachs Group Inc, was considering taking an anchor investor, said Chief Executive Officer R Ramaseshan.

“We are keeping that option open and we are actively looking at what could be the contribution of an anchor investor,” he said in an interview in Mumbai on Wednesday. “There’s nothing conclusive at this point in time.”

Buying a stake in a commodity bourse in India – the largest consumer of gold and the second-biggest grower of wheat and rice – will let an investor tap a market whose turnover is expected to rise 20 per cent in the current financial year from Rs 77.65 lakh crore a year earlier, according to the Forward Markets Commission (FMC).

 

Jaypee Capital Services Ltd, a New Delhi-based financial services company, was considering acquiring a stake, Ramaseshan said, adding that the exchange wasn’t necessarily talking with Jaypee about it being an anchor investor. “That issue is wide open at this point of time,” he said.

Jaypee Managing Director Gaurav Arora confirmed talks with the exchange by phone from Delhi. He declined to provide details.

NCDEX had a daily average turnover of Rs 2,700 crore in the June quarter, up from Rs 2,200 crore a year ago, Ramaseshan said.

Goldman Sachs Investment (Mauritius) Ltd holds four per cent in the exchange, according to the NCDEX website.