A majority of them have been switched to track illiquid commodities on indications that exchanges may work overtime to activate them.
For some others, their portfolio has been widened to 4-5 commodities from 2-3. They are also asked to keep a close vigil on spot and futures markets of agri and non-agri commodities.
However, mandi-based branches of broking firms are proposed to be converted either into extensions of the existing equity broking activities or compiling spot data of agricultural commodities with the hope that these commodities could be re-listed after the suspension period.
"Delisting of commodities from the exchange platform is not a solution to any inflationary problem in India and therefore, we believe, these commodities would be brought back for corporate and retail hedging soon," said Kishore Narne, head of research at AnandRathi.
Each analyst at AnandRathi has been given one regional agri commodity and one globally benchmark commodity. Therefore, the present uncertainty, which has arisen out of the suspension of four commodities - potato, chana, rubber and soy oil - for four months may not have any impact on the employees' sentiment as such. The broking firm is outsourcing edible oil data and reports from another domestic market player.
The government had suspended four largest volume generating commodities - wheat, rice, tur and urad - last year for allegedly helping spot price rise.
There is no question of retrenching employees as the sector itself is facing a huge shortage of talents, said Jayant Manglik, head-commodities of Religare Enterprises.
Several other options are available where the volume is likely to shift. Exchanges are also planning to launch new commodities and therefore, Religare is in the process to shift dedicated employees tracking suspended commodities to look after illiquid commodities.The broking firm is also focusing to build more corporate clients and serve them better with market and research reports.
Shailendra Kumar, head-commodities at Sharekhan, said, "Both the Abhijit Sen Committee and the government failed to establish the link between futures trading and price rise in the spot market. The government has suspended trading merely on the assumption that commodity trading on futures platform is responsible for the price spurt. But the government will soon realise that the price of a commodity cannot be controlled through delisting from trading platforms.
Such inflationary blips were witnessed in the US market as well when futures tradings were approved. But, measures taken to strengthen them helped control prices and thereby, inflation.
Naveen Mathur, head-commodities at Angel Broking, said, "The government has also taken other measures, including search and seizure of hoarded commodities, import duty cuts, export bans etc. This is expected to resume hedgers' confidence back on track.
Meanwhile, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Monday indicated that no product would be added to the list of suspended commodities and probably, the timeframe would also not be extended anymore.
