Multi Commodity Stock Exchange

Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) (BSE: 534091) is a commodity exchange based in India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance , Government of India. It was established in 2003 by the Government of India and is currently based in Mumbai . It is India's largest commodity derivatives exchange. The average daily turnover of commodity futures contracts increased by 26% to ?32,424 crore during FY2019-20, as against ?25,648 crore in FY2018-19. The total turnover of commodity futures traded on the Exchange stood at ?83.98 lakh crore in FY2019-20. MCX offers options trading in gold and futures trading in non-ferrous metals, bullion, energy, and a number of agricultural commodities (mentha oil, cardamom, crude palm oil, cotton, and others).

MCX was among the top global commodity exchanges in terms of the number of futures contracts trade, the latest yearly data from Futures Industry Association (FIA) showed. MCX launched the MCX India Commodity Indices (MCX iCOMDEX) series on December 20, 2019, which conform to the global best practices set by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). iCOMDEX series consists of iCOMDEX Composite, iCOMDEX Base Metals, iCOMDEX Bullion, iCOMDEX Gold, iCOMDEX Copper and iCOMDEX Crude Oil. Subsequently, MCX received regulatory approval for launch of futures contracts on MCX iCOMDEX Bullion and Base Metal indices. The exchange also set up a web-based application "ComRIS" (Commodity Receipts Information System) in order to maintain an electronic record of commodities deposited at the Exchange accredited warehouses and ensure flow of real time information from the warehouses.

Commodities traded include -

• Metal - Aluminium, Copper, Lead, Nickel, Zinc
• Bullion - Gold, Gold Mini, Gold Guinea, Gold Petal, Gold Petal ( New Delhi), Gold Global, Silver, Silver Mini, Silver Micro, Silver 1000.
• Agro Commodities - Cardamom, Cotton, Crude Palm Oil, Kapas, Mentha Oil, Castor seed, RBD Palmolien, Black Pepper.
• Energy - Crude Oil, Natural Gas.

The efforts that started in the fourth quarter of FY 2018-19 to migrate to 'Compulsory Delivery-based' contracts in all base metals were successfully completed in FY 2019-20. The launch of indigenously benchmarked deliverable futures contracts of Copper, Aluminium, Zinc, Lead and Nickel on MCX, has paved the way for the Indian market prices for metals to be discovered on an exchange platform in a transparent manner. This fulfills an important step towards development of domestic benchmarks which reflect domestic market fundamentals, while the delivery standards are in tune with international standards.

Paving the way for introduction of Options with 'commodities' as underlying, the Government of India issued a notification on October 18, 2019, which widens the scope of commodity derivatives traded in recognised exchanges. Following this, SEBI permitted stock exchanges to launch 'Option in goods' in their commodity derivatives segment, in addition to existing 'options on commodity futures'. MCX has launched Gold Mini Options with Gold Mini (100 grams) bar as the underlying, and plans to launch Silver Mini 5 Kg 'option in goods' contract soon.