FMC to be merged with SEBI

In a significant move, the Government today said commodities market watchdog FMC will be merged with the capital market regulator SEBI.

After the emergence of a major crisis at National Spot Exchange Ltd, the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) was last year brought under the Finance Ministry.

Presenting his maiden full-fledged

Budget today, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government would merge “FMC with SEBI’’.

The proposed merger would help streamline the monitoring of commodity futures trading and curb wild speculations, he added.

To implement the merger, the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act (SCRA) as well as the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act (FCRA) would need amendments.

The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) had recommended that SEBI, IRDA, PFRDA and FMC should be merged into a single entity into a unified financial agency (UFA).

In September 2013, FMC was brought under the Finance Ministry.

The move came in the wake of the Rs 5,600-crore payment crisis at NSEL. Earlier, FMC was with the Consumer Affairs Ministry.