After 14 months of deliberation, the five-member Abhijit Sen Committee on futures trading has failed to reach a consensus on whether to support or oppose the ban on futures trading in all farm commodities.
The committee has decided that all its members, including the chairman, will attach separate notes to the main report, which is now expected to be submitted within two to three days.
The committee, which met in New Delhi on Thursday for the final time to sort out the differences among the members, decided that the "common minimum report" would not take a view on the contentious issue of banning or not banning commodity futures trading.
Earlier, the committee had planned to recommend continuation of the existing ban on futures trading in some farm commodities and had included it in its draft report. The government had suspended futures trading in tur, urad, wheat and rice last year.
Sen said the terms of reference of the committee did not include recommending a ban on futures trading or lifting this ban in case of certain commodities. "This committee is not in the business of recommending lifting or imposing a ban on futures trading. We are not giving any unanimous view on the subject," he said.
Later, speaking to reporters, committee member and parliamentarian Sharad Joshi said the basic draft of the report would contain only the agreed views of the committee.
"The report could not establish unambiguously any direct correlation between futures trading of agriculture commodities and increase in their prices. So the report will be confined only to the analysis of the impact on prices, and whatever conclusions could be drawn one way or another will be given separately by each member," he said.
The terms of reference as provided by the government also asked the committee to recommend ways in which farmers' participation in the futures markets could be increased. However, this was interpreted differently by different members.
"Some thought that this is a green signal that the futures market is going to be there and suggestions should be made on how to strengthen it. So different members would possibly write separate notes on that particular aspect," Joshi said.
However, he added that the views of the chairman would carry more weight. "The chairman is the first among equals."
When asked if futures prices influenced spot prices, Sen said it was virtually impossible to make any statement "either this way or that way" which would be acceptable to everybody.
