FMC considers relaunching urad, rice and tur contracts

PANJIM: Commodities regulator Forward Markets Commission ( FMC) today said it is considering relaunching futures contracts for urad, tur and rice.

"We are considering favourably to bring back three commodities - tur, urad and rice - shortly on the futures platform," FMC Chairman Ramesh Abhishek told reporters on the sidelines of the pulses conclave here.

The pulses contracts were banned by FMC in 2007 to tame price rise. Subsequently, a committee headed by Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen in a report had stated that futures trading generally led to price discovery by farmers and maintained that the future trading did not contribute to price rise.

On the reason for lifting ban on pulses contracts, FMC believes that during the past five years, regulations have improved and process of price discovery is better now as volatility has come down.

FMC is considering to allow other pulses for futures contracts as chana is the only pulse traded in futures market very successfully, Abhishek said.