another first - India's first spot exchange in Bihar to trade maize

Leading commodity bourse NCDEX will launch the country's first spot exchange in Bihar by the end of next month with trading in maize contracts.

"We plan to launch NCDEX Spot Exchange in Bihar by September-end," National Commodity and Derivative Exchange chief strategist Narender Gupta said.

The NCDEX-promoted spot exchange would initially allow trading in maize -- a major crop in Bihar. It would later expand to other crops, he said.

Gupta said NCDEX would also launch spot exchanges in other states. "We hope to launch spot exchange in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan soon," he said.

Separately, NCDEX's rival Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) has promoted National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) and sought permission from Gujarat government to launch its electronic spot market in the state.

Since agriculture is a state subject, an electronic spot exchange cannot be launched at the national level. For any spot exchange to get a presence in all states, it has to ask permission from each states separately, an analyst said.

Explaining the functioning of the spot exchange, Gupta said though sellers would be from Bihar, buyers could be from anywhere in the country. Traders functioning in futures market can also buy from the spot market.