Commodity exchanges in India

There are 24 commodity exchanges in India at present. The following are the three main national-level exchanges.

Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX)

MCX is India’s largest commodity exchange. MCX was established in the year 2003 as a public company in Mumbai. The exchange facilitates futures trading in bullion, energy, non-ferrous metals, and some agricultural commodities.

The MCX exchange was promoted by Financial Technologies, a software company in the capital markets space. Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDFC Premier Equity Fund and Blackstone GPV Capital Partners Mauritius are some of the major shareholders at present.

National Commodity & Derivative Exchange (NCDEX)

NCDEX was founded as a public limited company in 2003 and is also based in Mumbai. It offers futures trading in 31 commodities. Agricultural commodities are popular in this exchange.

The major shareholders of the exchange are the National Stock Exchange (NSE), ICICI Bank, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

National Multi Commodity Exchange of India (NMCE)

NMCE offers to trade in 44 different commodities ranging from Menthol to Copra. Spices and plantation crops, especially from Kerala are very popular for trading on NMCE.

This exchange was promoted by Kailash Gupta and (CWC) Central Warehousing Corporation and has its headquarters in Ahmedabad in 2002.