The turnover of 17 commodity bourses fell by 59 per cent to Rs 2.82 lakh crore in the first fortnight of this month, with maximum decline in business seen at MCX, ACE and ICEX.
According to the latest data released by the regulator FMC, the turnover of all commodity exchanges fell to Rs 2.82 lakh crore during the January 1-15 period of this year, from Rs 6.89 lakh crore in the year-ago period.
There are six national level -- MCX, NCDEX, NMCE, ICEX, ACE and UCX, and 11 regional level commodity exchanges operating in the country.
As per the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) data, the turnover at MCX, the country's leading commodity bourse, declined by 64.48 per cent to Rs 2.17 lakh crore in the first fortnight of January this year, from Rs 6.11 lakh crore in the year-ago period.
The business at ICEX declined by 55 per cent to Rs 2,583 crore from Rs 5,709 crore. Turnover at ACE, too, dropped by 79 per cent to Rs 1,529 crore from Rs 7,191 crore in the review period.
However the turnover at NCDEX, the the country's second biggest commodity bourse, fell marginally by 9 per cent to Rs 49,136 crore in the first fortnight of the current month from Rs 54,044 crore in the same period 2013.
Similarly, the business at NMCE also declined marginally by over 18 per cent to Rs 7,266 crore from Rs 8,879 crore in the review period.
Analysts said that trade volumes at national level exchanges have plummeted due to lower participation in view of higher transaction cost after the imposition of commodity transaction cost (CTT) since July 2013.
Also, Rs 5,600 crore payment crisis at NSEL, the sister concern of MCX, has dented investors' confidence, they added.
During the April-January 15 period of 2013-14 fiscal, the total turnover of all commodity exchanges declined by over 37 per cent to Rs 85.28 lakh crore from Rs 136.51 lakh crore in the year-ago period.
