Yet another landmark building in Mumbai is set to go under the hammer. The building housing the over six-decade-old East India Cotton Association (EICA) or the Cotton Exchange of Mumbai, one of Asia's oldest cotton exchanges in the busy Kalbadevi area of south Mumbai, is on course to be sold.
The EICA has convened a board meeting to discuss the proposal. EICA president KF Jhunjunwala refused to divulge details, but said the move was being considered by the board. The building, which used to be the hub of cotton futures trading in the 1960s, has had four of its nine stories vacant for almost a year now. The exchange'sdministrative office, which was on the ninth floor of the building, has now moved to its Cotton Green premises, where the spot market for cotton trading used to be located.
The first three floors occupied by public sector banks have also been vacated. These floors were initially the trading ring and were converted to offices when futures trading was discontinued in 1966 following a government fiat.
Though the exact area is not known, the building, constructed in 1938 and which used to be the tallest in the city until the late 1960s, is 102 feet high. There's another twin tower measuring 114 feet which was built at a cost of Rs 16 lakh. The trading ring alone measured 150 square metres with a height equivalent to three stories. Besides, the building has 113 rooms on other floors occupied by the members of the association.
Thecotton exchange in Mumbai is among Asia's oldest commodity exchanges. In the past, the trading ring at Kalbadevi has witnessed voluminous business in cotton futures that had a significant influence on world cotton prices, especially during the war years. India was a net exporter of cotton then. However, with the ban on futures trading, it was a struggle for the exchange.
Though futures trading is now permitted by the government, and the exchange is offering online trading facilities, competition has caught up. It has to take on the new-age national commodity exchanges like NCDX and the Multi-Commodity Exchange, which have a wider reach. The exchange's online trading facilities are now being managed out of its other office in the Cotton Green area in south-east Mumbai.
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