KOCHI: With the National Stock Exchange (NSE) launching its Kerala office at Kochi, its proposal to commence commodity futures trade here has gain strength.
At present, there are two major national level and six regional bourses for commodity futures in the country.
Both NSE and BSE have sought market watchdog Sebi’s approval to launch a commodity segment on their platform.
“The NSE state office in Kerala will cater to the needs of 15 broking firms and around 6.5 lakh customers in the securities market. This is the 15th office of NSE and we have plans to open more such offices in the country. At present we have presence in about 2500 cities in the country,” Ravi Varanasi, Chief-Business Development, NSE told Express on the sidelines of the launch of Postgraduate Certificate in Financial Sector Management (PGC-FSM) course in tie up with Muthoot Securities here on Thursday.
“The daily average turnover of Rs 400 crore in the cash market and Rs 500 crore in the derivatives segment happen in Kerala. Even though it is less than 1.5 per cent of the total turnover in the market, the state has huge potential,” he said, adding 12 per cent of the total trade in the capital market in the country happens through internet and one per cent via mobile trading.
“With the merger of Forward Markets Commission and Sebi, it is big time for us to enter into the commodity futures trading. Kerala has huge potential in this segment especially in cardamom and black pepper,” a NSE spokesperson.