The Hindu Business Line : Bill for FMC's autonomy to be tabled in Budget session

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Ahmedabad Feb. 19 The Union Government is likely to table a Bill seeking more autonomy and powers for the Forward Market Commission in the Budget session of Parliament, its Member, Mr Rajiv Kumar Agrawal, said.

Speaking to newspersons on the sidelines on the Fifth International Seminar on Castor, he said the Commission empowered thus would have more administrative and financial autonomy to respond to the situations coming before it, as the top regulatory body in the commodity market.

Asked about the concerns over the current price rise, he said the FMC was not responsible for it. The prices had gone up due to a gap between demand and supply of commodities and the Government was taking steps on the supply side. "The Commission is trying to discipline the market and taking care that spot markets are not affected by the futures market." He said the consumer was "very much in focus as an important stakeholder."

About the Commission's steps taken in recent past, he said it had organised educational and awareness programmes to inform the farmers and others about the FMC. About 60 educational institutions, including the IIMs and other business schools, had introduced new courses in related subjects. The Commission had also enrolled NABARD and the Jaipur-based National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM) in these efforts.

FIs in futures

About the proposals to involve financial institutions in futures trading of commodities, Mr Agrawal said the FMC had recently recommended to the RBI to permit the banks and financial institutions in futures trading so that they could act as aggregators and small farmers do not have to take positions in the market.

Also, it had urged the apex bank to let the financial institutions to enter international markets in bullion and energy, he added.