Commodity futures market grew by 63.7 per cent to Rs 25,97,926 crore in the first two months of the current fiscal on the back of a sharp jump in trading volumes of bullion, according to the Forward Markets Commission (FMC).

The commodity futures market, which comprises 23 exchanges, did business worth Rs 15,87,023 crore in the same period last year, it said in a statement.

“The business growth in the commodity futures market was largely led by bullion trade, besides an increase in participation in energy and some agricultural commodities,” an official with the FMC said.

Turnover from bullion more than doubled to Rs 16,15,138 crore during April-May of the 2011-12 fiscal from Rs 6,99,833 crore in the same period last year. Similarly, the turnover from agricultural commodities rose over 38 per cent to Rs 2,40,339 crore from Rs 1,73,938 crore.

Business from energy items like crude oil also increased by 23.44 per cent to Rs 3,43,930 crore in the first two months of this fiscal compared with Rs 2,78,610 crore in the year-ago period.

However, the turnover from metals like copper dipped by 8.31 per cent to Rs 3,98,518 crore during April-May this financial year against Rs 4,34,633 crore in the year-ago period.

Apart from the five national bourses — MCX, NCDEX, NMCE, ICEX and ACE derivatives — there are 18 regional exchanges in the country at present.

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