Alpha Ideas

 

Disclosure:I am market making in the shares of BSE

The Bombay Stock Exchange plans to start its own commodity exchange by next fiscal year, BSE’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Ashishkumar Chauhan has said.

He said that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has already permitted BSE’s foray into commodity trading through its own exchange. Since commodity trading in India is regulated by the Forward Markets Commission (FMC), BSE is now awaiting the Commission’s nod.

“BSE plans to set up a commodity exchange for which SEBI has already given us its permission. Now, we are awaiting FMC’s clearance as we have already applied for the licence. We are hopeful about starting the exchange by the next fiscal after getting FMC clearance,” Chauhan said during his interaction with reporters here recently.

Commenting on BSE’s future road map, Chauhan hinted at transforming the exchange into a more “society friendly” institution rather than merely focussing on making money through commissions.

He said that BSE could become irrelevant if it failed to focus on what society needed, that is, capital formation and new investment, rather than mere trading.

“Exchanges focus on trading, since they get 70 per cent to 80 per cent of their income from commissions. However, society is not interested merely in trading. Exchanges may become irrelevant if they don’t focus on what society and country needs, which is capital formation, new initial public offers (IPOs) etc,” Chauhan said. –from BS