Sebi notifies revised regulations ahead of FMC merger

The Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) on Tuesday amended its regulations that would allow the functioning of the commodities derivatives market and its brokers under the ambit of the capital market regulator.

The move comes ahead of the merger of the commodities’ market regulator, the Forward Markets Commission, with Sebi, which would be effective September 28.

The amended regulations included those relating to stock exchanges and clearing corporations. These norms would also come into force on September 28. Among others, aregional commodity derivatives exchange should pay Sebi an annual regulatory fee of Rs.50,000 within 30 days of the conclusion of the relevant financial year, said the amended norms. In the case of the national commodity derivatives exchanges, the net worth for a self- clearing member should be Rs.1 crore and for a clearing member it should be Rs.3 crore. The deposit amount in the case of a national commodity derivative exchange would be Rs.50 lakh for both self- clearing and clearing members.

With regards to the regional commodity derivatives exchanges, the net worth level and deposit amount for selfclearing and clearing members would be specified by Sebi from time to time.

Sebi board had last month approved new norms for commodities derivatives market under which exchanges and brokers in this segment would need to comply with rules applicable to their stock market peers. The government has notified the merger of the FMC with Sebi with effect from September 28.

“The Forward Contracts Regulation Act ( FCRA), 1952, gets repealed and the regulation of commodity derivatives market will shift to the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) under the Securities Contracts Regulation Act ( SCRA), 1956, with effect from September 28, 2015," the finance ministry had said in a statement last week.

Business Standard, New DElhi, 9th Sept. 2015