|Arabian Post Special| Indian officials have floated the idea of a gold exchange for the country, which will help discover the standard gold price for India.
The trading platform would be made available for all types of bullion dealers, jewellers, bullion refineries, individuals, and even temple trusts.
Indian bullion dealers currently trade mostly on the Dubai Gold and Commodity exchange, which is dominated by the Indian gold traders based here. Dubai’s gold and jewellery business itself is largely concentrated in the hands of Indians. So an Indian exchange would mean new competition for the Dubai exchange.
The proposal for the new gold exchange was revealed by the secretary in the department of economic affairs of the finance ministry at the third India International Bullion Summit in Mumbai least week. He sought suggestions from the trade for making the exchange successful.
Experts believe that the Indian exchange will most likely be an electronic platform that will handle physical delivery, like a spot exchange where agricultural commodities are traded.
The proposal for a formal exchange was made initially made by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the World Gold Council in 2013 to tackle the issue of significant price differences in various channels and regions. It was felt that a dedicated institution like a gold exchange focused on gold trading will create a national pricing structure for gold and create required infrastructure including storage.
