India commodity markets have been in existence for decades. However in 1975 the
Government banned forward contracts on commodities. Later in 2003 the Government
of India again allowed forward contracts in commodities. There have been over 20
exchanges existing for commodities all over the country. However these exchanges
are commodity specific and have a strong regional focus. The Government, in order
to make the commodities market more transparent and efficient, accorded approval
for setting up of national level multi commodity exchanges. Accordingly three exchanges
are there which deal in a wide variety of commodities and which allow nation-wide
trading. They are
