However, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs is not convinced.
According to the Ministry, since the powers given to the Jute Commissioner under the essential commodity clause were given by the Consumer Affairs Ministry, it would have been only fair on the part of the Union Textile Ministry and the Jute Commissioner's office to have informed the Union Consumer Affairs Ministry before making such an announcement.
Talking to reporters in the city, Mr Gupta said they were in touch with the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs and were taking regular updates on the matter. He hoped the matter would be resolved soon.
Mr Gupta's concern on the issue stems from the fact that at NMCE, raw jute is one of the most favoured commodities. Between June 4, 2004 and December 12, 2005, more than 5.83 lakh bales of raw jute were traded on this exchange, marking a total value of Rs 10,954.78 crore.
Our Mumbai Bureau reports: The Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has decided that in case the maturity date of a running raw jute contract falls during the suspension period of the trade, the contracts should be deemed to be settled at the settlement price on December 15.
An FMC release said the commission has intimated NCDEX and the NMCE in this regard.
NMCE commenced futures trading in 24 commodities on 26th November, 2002 on a national scale and the basket of commodities has grown substantially since then to include cash crops, food grains, plantations, spices, oil seeds, metals & bullion among others. Research Desk of NMCE is constantly in the process of identifying the hedging needs of the commodity economy and the basket of products is likely to grow even further.
National Multi-Commodity Exchange of India Ltd
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