Commodity futures trading volumes in India fell 40.49 percent in the year to March 2014, its second straight year of decline, the market regulator said on Tuesday. In value terms, futures trading at commodity exchanges fell to 101.44 trillion rupees ($1.69 trillion) in the first twelve months from April 2013 from 170.46 trillion rupees a year ago, the Forward Markets Commission said in a statement on its website.
Trading in gold bullion fell more than 25 percent to 43 trillion rupees in the year to March 2014, from 78 trillion rupees in the same period last year. Metals volumes fell 46 percent to 17 trillion rupees, and volumes in agricultural commodities fell 25 percent to 16 trillion rupees.
The plunge in volumes and lack of fresh capital is expected to cause at least one national-level exchange, the Indian Commodity Exchange controlled by Reliance Capital, to shut down.