The Union Cabinet is likely to bring an ordinance to amend the Forward Contracts Regulaton Act (FCRA) and provide autonomy to the Forward Market Commission (FMC), the regulator of commodity exchanges. Speaking on the sidelines of an international conference on commodities futures markets in New Delhi, Subodh Kant Sahai, Minister for Food Processing Industries, said: "The cabinet will take up the long-pending amendment of FCRA on January 24." The amendment will provide more teeth to the commission enabling it to regulate the commodity markets more efficiently.B C Khatua, chairman, FMC, said, "FMC will become an autonomous commodity markets regulator. It will get powers to recognise or de-list commodity exchanges, and allow trading of more commodities by the commodity exchanges."
