Hedging risks

Suspension of futures trading has not helped

Despite a campaign by various agri-commodity bodies to get the ban on futures trading of key farm products quashed, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which is also the commodity market regulator, on Tuesday decided to extend it by another year. The crux of the arguments put forth by agri-commodity bodies was that the bar on futures trading has done more harm than good to the commodities sector by denying the stakeholders an opportunity to hedge their price risks. A well-functioning futures market is necessary for the producers, traders, processors, importers and exporters of agricultural products in order