Cotton Association of India (CAI) plans to launch Cotton Price Index, for the first time in India, on the lines of ICE Futures in the US and Cotlook in the UK, President P D Patodia said on Tuesday.
The proposed index will be launched within a few months along with CAI’s two new cotton contracts that are being given final touches before the approval of the FMC, Patodia said.
A CAI committee, chaired by Deena Mehta, former head of the Bombay Stock Exchange, is already on the job of launching the delivery-based futures contracts as soon as possible, he added.
Patodia said CAI intends to start mock trading of its new contracts, most likely by the end of September, to gauge the participation level of traders.
The new cotton contracts may be for Gujarat Sankar-6 and Punjab J34 — the two varieties of cotton that are widely traded as well as exported. They will replace two defunct cotton contracts of CAI, he said.
“We want to launch a Cotton Price Index that will be an independent and unbiased indicator of cotton prices in India,” he said.
