India's MCX commodity exchange expects turnover of at least $750 billion this fiscal year and will launch an exchange in Mauritius as part of an international expansion, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Reforms, such as allowing new kinds of forward contracts or algorithmic trading in India, are pending approval and Lamon Rutten, joint managing director of MCX, said a go-ahead for just two measures would take volumes to $1 trillion this year.
In the last fiscal year running to the end of March, turnover at Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX), which was launched in 2003, totalled $480 billion, he said. "If any two of the government measures come through we'll hit $1 trillion this year," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Istanbul.
Rutten said the aim was for MCX to become one of the top five futures exchanges in the world within five years, from its current ranking at 10th, which already makes it bigger than the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT).
MCX, which together with its parent company holds a 49 percent stake in Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), also plans to launch a multi-asset exchange in Mauritius this year, targeting offshore players. "We expect it will exist by the end of the year," he said, adding it already had a licence. "It would be an offshore financial centre."
They were still deciding which products would be traded. "We will have gold, the traditional big commodities, but the unique aspect will be the innovative products," Rutten said, adding the Mauritius exchange would be large, overtaking Dubai in two to three years.
Another project will be announced later, he said, adding that MCX was looking at Asia. Rutten declined to give details. He also declined to comment on any involvement in a new commodities exchange in Egypt, which Cairo is planning for next year.
Rutten said DGCX has postponed by three months a plan to launch a steel future contract, putting the team that had been preparing it to work instead on a rupee future, which has seen large demand and will be the first in the world.