The Hindu Business Line : Parliamentary panel reiterates demand to ban wheat futures

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution has reiterated its demand for banning futures trading in wheat and other essential items of mass consumption.

In its fifteenth report tabled in the Lok Sabha, the Committee has said that the purpose for which futures/forward trading was introduced in wheat and other foodgrains has "sadly... not yielded the desired result, especially to small farmers". At the same time, consequent upon the rise in future prices, retail-end prices have also gone up.

Contention rejected

"As a result... on (the) one hand, farmers have not been able to reap the benefit of futures trading and, on the other hand, the consumer is made to pay high price on account of speculation and other market manipulations," the Committee, headed by Mr Devendra Prasad Yadav (Rashtriya Janata Dal), has stated.

It has rejected the Ministry's contention that futures trading helps farmers by enabling efficient price discovery and giving them an idea of expected harvest-time prices in order to undertake proper crop planning.

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