New Delhi: Turnover of commodity exchanges declined 50 per cent to Rs. 37 lakh crore in the April-November period of this year due to sluggish trade volumes in almost all commodities, according to the Forward Markets Commission (FMC).
These exchanges generated business worth Rs. 74.16 lakh crore in the same period last year, FMC said in its latest report.
Turnover from bullion declined 60 per cent to Rs. 13.14 lakh crore till November 15 of this financial year from Rs. 33.15 lakh crore in the year-ago period.
Similarly, the turnover from energy items like crude oil fell 51 per cent to Rs. 8.90 lakh crore from Rs. 18.05 lakh crore, while business from metals like copper dropped by 41 per cent to Rs. 7.94 lakh crore from Rs. 13.51 lakh crore.
Turnover from agricultural commodities also declined over 25 per cent to Rs. 7.05 lakh crore from Rs. 9.43 lakh crore.
Experts attributed the fall in trade volumes to poor participation in view of higher transaction cost, especially after the imposition of commodity transaction tax (CTT) from July 1, 2013.
That apart, investor sentiment took a beating after the Rs. 5,600-crore scam surfaced at spot exchange NSEL, they added.
There are four national and six regional-level commodity exchanges operating in the country.
