Tracks future traders’ moves; expects channa dal to dip next month
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Mumbai: Amid soaring prices of pulses across the country, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Monday said that the regulator is closely monitoring the activities of traders in the commodities futures market.
While speaking on the sidelines of ‘India ETF Conference’ in Mumbai, U.K.Sinha, the chairman of Sebi said that the market regulator is also working closely with the government and various commodity exchanges to prevent any misuse of the futures trading platform by traders.
“We are in close contact with the government. We are also working with exchanges very closely. The authorities in various states have conducted raids and have seized some stocks. Sebi is looking into the matter if any of those who have violated the Essential Commodities Act or control orders are also players in the commodities futures market. If we find their involvement, then there is a case for Sebi to take action. So we are getting into those details. We are keeping a very close watch,” Mr Sinha said.
Following the merger of the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with Sebi, the capital market regulator is now regulating the commodities futures trading in India. The Sebi chief, however, said that there are no futures contract on pulses at the moment and the only relevant contract is on channa where the future prices are lower than the spot prices.
“If you look at the channa contract very closely, you will find that the next month’s futures contract is trading at a discount to the current spot price. This indicates that those hedging or speculating in the market are taking a view that the prices are going to fall in the next month. So to say that commodities futures trading may lead to price rise is wrong,” he added.
He however did not give the prices that were quoted in the earlier months when prices were soaring. Prices are now falling because of the raids on godowns in various states and districts.
In a bid to check hoardings and bring down the prices of pulses, various state governments have conducted raids and had seized more than 75,000 tonnes of pulses. The centre had also imposed stock limits on pulses held by licensed food processors, importers, exporters as well as large departmental retailers.
Meanwhile, four state governments including Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, have started selling tur dal at a lower price of Rs 120-145/kg through retail points or public distribution system (PDS) shops to provide relief to people.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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