Commodity exchanges' turnover dips by 70% to Rs 2.36 lakh crore during April 1-15

Commodity exchanges turnover declined by 70% and stood at Rs 2.36 lakh crore in the first fortnight of April compared to turnover of Rs 7.87 lakh crore recorded in 17 commodity exchanges in the year-ago period. This drop in turnover can be attributed to the fact that the volumes in most commodities dipped sharply. The maximum fall in business was seen in the futures trading of bullion followed by energy, metals and agriculture commodities, according to the data compiled by the Forward Markets Commission, the turnover from bullion declined by 77% to Rs 87,997 crore during April 1-15 from Rs 3.84 lakh crore in the same fortnight a year ago. Besides, business from energy commodities such as crude oil fell 71% to Rs 54,647 crore from Rs 1.85 lakh crore. Turnover from metals like copper dropped 64% to Rs 47,234 crore from Rs 1.31 lakh crore, while turnover from agricultural commodities declined by 46% to Rs 46,760 crore in the first fortnight of this month from Rs 85,853 crore in the same period last year. In the first 15 days of April, MCX, the country’s leading commodity bourse did business worth Rs 1.94 lakh crore, while NCDEX turnover was Rs 38,218 crore, ACE at Rs 2,291 crore, UCX at Rs 915 crore, NMCE at Rs 571 crore and ICEX at Rs 0.29 crore. After the imposition of commodity transaction tax the trading volumes on the bourses have been hit. The investors are also trading cautiously after the Rs 5,600-crore payment crisis came to light on National Spot Exchange (NSEL) a few months ago. The overall turnover of commodity bourses in 2013-14 fiscal declined by 41% and stood at Rs 101.44 lakh crore from Rs 170.46 lakh crore in the previous fiscal.