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Our Bureau

Kochi, Nov. 8

The National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE) has introduced eight gram gold guinea contracts, which areexpected to facilitate greater trade and delivery facilities.

The exchange, which has primarily dealt in agro-commodities in the past, has launched the unique retail product and it is expected to give its bullion segment a huge boost.

Currently, the exchange gets 20 per cent of its volumes from metal and bullion trade.

Inaugurating the contract in Kochi, Mr Rajiv Agarwal, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, said: “I am glad that NMCE, through its gold guinea contract, is trying to take futures to the masses across the country and it would be a product which would appeal to all.”

Adding more user-friendly features, the exchange also re-launched its Web site www.nmce.com .

In order to provide the consumers a transparent and convenient platform, NMCE has also tied up with the Muthoot Group for providing delivery at 22 centres across the country.

Delivery on futures contract has been the cornerstone of NMCE.

The purchase/delivery of the gold guinea is made available through the Muthoot Finance’s centres spread across the country: from Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Jaipur, Mumbai, Indore, Delhi, Rajkot, Kanpur, Lucknow in the North to Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchi, Bangalore, Mangalore and Hyderabad in South.

The specified quality of the gold guinea is .999 purity (basis) and is acceptable up to .995 purity, subject to appropriate premium/discount.

The guinea would be either from approved refineries or Muthoot-branded BIS certified, serially numbered and would be available in a tamper-proof packing.

The unique value proposition of NMCE’s Gold Guinea contract is that the buyer/seller can take/deliver the guinea at any of the 22 centres irrespective of the availability of the counterparty at that particular centre, the exchange pointed out.

Three permitted contracts, namely the series of December 09, January 10 and February 10 of the 8 grams gold coin will get activated while the March 10 series will get activated on December 1.

Subsequently, trading in any contract month will open on the first day of the month and the due date would be the last working day of the contract expiry month.

The trading hours would be from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, which may extend to 11.30 p.m. in the near future. The trading window for Saturday would, however, be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Through this contract, retail investors can buy the contract by paying small margin money of 4 per cent and take delivery later by paying the balance.

This enables retail investors to invest in gold with their small savings.

The retail investors would have assured purity and delivery at close proximity as NMCE plans to add many more delivery centres beyond the current 22.

“We are glad to tie up with NMCE to work as their designated vaulting centre. Our large network of 1300 branches could ultimately help NMCE to reach closer to the retail investors all over India. We assure transparent and user friendly delivery of gold guinea of certified purity in keeping with the tradition and trust, the group has enjoyed with its clients,” Mr George Alexander Muthoot, Managing Director of Muthoot Group, said.

With the global financial meltdown and crash in the stock markets, investors in general and small investors in particular have been looking for dependable safe investment opportunity. Through this contract, we shall fulfil that need, Mr Anil Mishra, Chief Executive Officer of NMCE, said.

More Stories on : Gold & Silver | Commodity Exchanges

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