Mr. Sharad Pawar, Honorable Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Consumer Affairs was the chief guest of the inaugural session
Commodity Participants Association of India (CPAI), an all India body comprising of commodities participants of various recognized commodity exchanges like ACE, ICEX, MCX, NCDEX, and NMCE in association with Forward Market Commission (FMC) organized the 1st International convention on commodities market called “India- Emerging Commodities Hub” today.
The convention comprised of three sessions namely 1) Inaugural Session, 2) Technical Session and 3) Concluding Session.
Inaugural session was chaired by Mr. B.C Khatua, Chairman, Forward Market Commission. The session was themed “India – Emerging Commodities Hub”. Mr. Katua was joined by Mr. Gopal K Agarwal, National President, Commodity Participants Association of India and Mr. D.K. Aggarwal, National Alternate President, CPAI. A journal prepared by CPAI named “India-Emerging Commodities Hub” was released in the same session.
Speaking at the inaugural session Mr. Gopal K Agarwal, National President, Commodity Participants Association of India (CPAI) said “If India has to emerge as an economic power, we need to take collective steps in the right earnest to develop our markets and remove all impediments. A collective and determined resolve always gives the desired results. There have been long array of reforms bills starting from Essential Commodities Act of 1955 to Agriculture Price Commission, agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act, National Agriculture Policy etc. to the upcoming Seeds Bill and Food Security Bill, meeting the requirements of the time. We have to show the same resolve in enacting Forward Contract Regulation Act (FCRA) and the process of reforms in the case of Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA), so that a conducive environment is created for the commodities market and India can emerge as a Global Trading Centre and emerge as an International Commodities Hub”
Releasing the journal on “India – Emerging Commodities Hub”, Honorable Minister, who was suppose to attend the event but could not come, through a written note, complemented the initiative taken by CPAI in preparing the research journal and hoped that it would fill some of the information gap that exists with regards to the commodity derivative market.
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Mr. D.K. Aggarwal, National Alternate President, CPAI gave the vote of thanks before concluding the first session. He said, “India possesses a unique position as a major consumption market and this is an invitation to the world to explore the Indian market. We are expecting massive expansion in Commodities trade volumes over the next 15-20 years. Some of the important things which needs urgent attention are: passing of FCRA Amendment Bill, introduction of options contracts, permission to FII’s and NRI’s to trade in Indian Commodity Exchanges in Non Agri commodities, permission to banks to trade in Indian Commodity futures, allow contracts on commodity Indices and contracts on intangibles like freight and Weather and also the treatment of profits from commodity derivatives as business income and not as speculative income. I am confident if these measures are taken, we will see India in near future as price setter of Benchmark prices of various Commodities worldwide.”
The inaugural session was followed by Technical and concluding sessions. In the technical session, Mr. BC Khatua, Chairman, Forward Market commission, Govt of India was the chief guest and Mr. R Ramaseshan, CEO, NCDEX was the Guest of Honor. In the concluding session, Mr. Rajiv Aggarwal, secretary, Minisry of Consumer affairs was the chief guest. The whole convention was knitted around the theme “India- Emerging Commodities Hub”
About 50 delegates attended the convention and appraise the common platform to raise their voice. The convention turned out to be a common platform for all participants in commodity market to share their views and critically examine the current situation and discuss the ways to make India the commodities hub for the world. By the end of the convention, it was unanimous that India has the potential to become the commodities hub subject to some steps taken sincerely and strictly.
About Commodity Participants Association of India:
Commodity Participants Association of India (CPAI) is an all India body comprising of Commodities Participants of various recognized Commodity Exchanges like MCX, NCDEX, NMCE etc. operating across the country. Association is having its Head Office in New Delhi and is having four regions viz Western region, Eastern region, Northern region and Southern region. The Board of Directors of the Association comprises of representatives from all the four regions. The basic objective of the Association is to work for the cause and concern of its members (Commodity Participants) so that they could do business smoothly and their problems could be discussed with the relevant authorities. It provides a platform to its members to voice their opinion on various policies and operations of doing commodity dealings for its clients. Also it provides professional assistance, guidance and special services to its members to function ethically according to the standard principles and practices laid down by the Government, FMC and the Commodity Exchanges.