On Dec. 19, the Finance Ministry of India ordered a year-long pause in fresh futures contracts in seven agriculture commodities, on the commodities exchanges—MCX and NCDEX, as one measure to hold down food price inflation. The order went into effect on Dec. 21 on orders of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which issued a statement saying, “No new contract shall be launched till further orders.” Existing contracts and positions in commodities can be squared up over the coming months.
An official with one of the exchanges said, “The [Indian] government feels that commodity derivatives are leading to high food prices and hence the move to suspend futures trading in agri-products,” according to a report by economictimes.indiatimes.com.
