| Though the volatility in crude futures may have made it attractive, investors in Gujarat have reportedly lost over Rs 100 crore in recent rally, which followed hurricane Katrina and Rita in the US. |
| Interestingly, most of the investors betted their hard earned money on crude had no clue about the product or the market but were lured purely by the volatility in price. |
| "I have received calls from remote places such as Khambha and Jasdan deep inside the Saurashtra region in Gujarat asking for the impact of US Department of Energy's latest crude inventory announcement on Nymex Futures," said Biren Vakil, CEO, Paradim Commodities. |
| He said that it was amazing, how people with some spare money, but absolutely no idea about the crude oil business had taken plunge into highly volatile product like crude simply because it sounded more rewarding to them than even stock market. |
| Crude futures were subjected to high amount of volatility during the last one half months between mid-July and end of August. |
| "According to my estimates, losses in Gujarat could be as high as Rs 100 crore and across the country to the tune of Rs 250 crore ," said Vakil. |
| The crude October delivery on Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCXI) had some wild fluctuations like around Rs 2700 in mid-August to Rs 3102 on August 31 to Rs 2770 in mid-September. |
| Many investors entered the trading during late July when prices started showing fluctuations following news about possibility of hurricane Katrina striking New Orleans. |
| Euphoria created during that phase attracted many investors from various part of Gujarat as well as other states. |
| Dabba trading where broker himself act like exchange or trading authority could also have taken place in case of crude oil futures during the last two months, according to sources. |
| Dabba trading in stocks was being investigated in case of stock markets in Gujarat following raids conducted by the income tax department in Ahmedabad. In Rajkot alone, uninformed investors have reportedly lost close to Rs 7 crore in last ten days. |
| Hurricane Rita which followed hurricane Katrina also pushed the prices up for some time. |
| However the euphoria did not last long this time and resulted in losses for the investors from the region. |
| Rajkot, which had huge investment interests in commodity and stock markets, also experienced the Post-Katrina and Post-Rita impact as the investors in commodity markets experienced a major setback of the year with cyclone striking in US. |
| In the last few weeks, the trend observed in investment pattern from players with big pockets was a little shocking for business operators from city too. |
| "Dealing in something physical is always safe; but when product like crude which is not dealt in physical and is pure feature; one should think several times -- because one danger is that oil is a commodity which is under heavy impact of the global movements may it be political, social, commercial or eventually a calamity or natural disaster too," explained Pankaj Lodhiya, dealing in precious metals in the city. |
| Investors in Rajkot were not savvy and had a tendency to gamble. |
| Losses were inevitable as they made investments in a commodity like crude without appropriate knowledge of markets and movements perceived. |
| Despite of not being clear fundamentally about commodities never dealt with in the domestic sector till, the movement of figures on screen egged on gamblers till a natural calamity led to losses. |
| Commodities like crude were virtually unknown in local markets, but somehow investors refused to see this as a problem. |
| They though they could double their fortunes but reality turned out to be a nightmare. |
| "Losses booked in commodities trade ranges somewhere between Rs 7-8 crore mainly in crude oil and jeera from Rajkot alone "" it would be hard to speculate the amount of money lost in the Saurashtra region in this trade," claimed Raju Pobaru, president of Rajkot Bullion Association. |
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