A major policy shift has been taking place in the Indian commodity derivatives market since September 2015, when the commodity regulatory body, Forward Markets Commission, was formally merged with the capital market regulator – the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). In June 2017, SEBI opened up the commodity derivatives markets to institutional investors for the first time by allowing hedge funds registered as category III Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) to invest in commodity derivatives as ‘clients’.¹

The category III AIFs raise money from high net worth individuals and…

Currently, there are no multilateral rules on international investment. But there is a concerted push by China, Brazil, Russia and Argentina to start formal discussions on a multilateral instrument on investment facilitation at the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the past few weeks, five proposals have been submitted to the General Council – the highest decision-making body of the WTO – to initiate discussions on a multilateral instrument on investment facilitation with the intention of possible deliverables at the Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires in December 2017. The five…

This e-pamphlet explains the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a mega-regional free trade agreement at the door of Asia Pacific, in easy-to-understand format. It outlines India’s current position on key elements of the proposed pact and highlights key sectoral concerns on agriculture, trade in goods and services, intellectual property, public health and investment protection. The e-pamphlet provides links to ‘leaked’ texts from the negotiations and a list of additional resources.

The background paper provides a critical analysis of the proposals made by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) secretariat of the OECD in the paper titled, “Implementation of the Principles of ODA Modernization on Private Sector Instruments,” which is yet to be made public. The DAC’s proposals would allow a wide variety of private sector instruments to be used as vehicles for international aid. This means an increase in the possible use of aid to invest in or give loans to private companies, or to underwrite their activities, through guarantees….

In a major push to widen the scope of commodity derivatives market in India, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has recently allowed options trading on commodity exchanges. This decision has been hailed by commodity exchanges as a game changer for Indian farmers. Tracing the experience of futures trading in the Indian commodity markets, the paper argues that the options trading is not suitable for Indian farmers as they lack the understanding, resources and capacities to trade in commodity derivatives. Since sophisticated traders and financial investors will use…