National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) is looking to rope in investors, with a long-term objective of tapping the capital market through public offering.
The exchange is promoted by Financial Technologies India Ltd.(FTIL) and National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED).
At present, FTIL holds about 99 per cent stake in NSEL, which conducts spot trading in various agricultural and non agricultural commodities.
"We will start the process of dilution of stake by the end of this financial year. The long-term objective is to reduce FTIL's stake to about 26 per cent. We will initially start by shedding 5-10 per cent stake. Finally the objective is to go for an IPO after two years," said Anjani Sinha, managing director and chief executive officer, NSEL, on the sidelines of a press meet today.
NSEL is planning to launch 15 commodities under its newly launched E-series over the next one year. It has launched gold and silver contracts for demat trading recently. Through this, the exchange is hoping to have a daily turnover of close to Rs 1,500 crore over the next one year. "We are looking at a turnover of at least Rs 100 crore in each of these commodities in the next one year," said Sinha.
NSEL would also look at an investor who would have synergies with the present set-up of the exchange. "A corporate which is dealing with agricultural commodities or its procurement will be a preferred investor."
The exchange is looking at commodities like steel, copper, nickel, cadmium and aluminum among others in the cash segments. The present turnover of the exchange every day is close to Rs 50-60 crore.
The E-series of NSEL was designed to develop a cash segment in commodities for investments by the retail segment in the demat form, said Sinha. "We hope that by the time we reach a turnover of Rs 500 crore, the process of dilution of stake will start."
