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Govt to empower FMC to oversee NSEL dues settlement

The government will empower the Forward Markets Commission, the commodity market regulator, to oversee settlement of Rs 5,600 crore of dues to investors by the crisis-ridden NSEL.

‘We have asked the FMC to sort out the problem of settlement. A notification will be issued today (Monday) to strengthen FMC to look into NSEL settlement issues,’ Consumer Affairs Secretary Pankaj Agarwal told reporters.

Stating that the FMC has already been looking into the NSEL issue for the past two days, Agarwal said the government has the power to strengthen FMC because the exemptions granted under the Forward Contracts Regulation Act (FCRA) for spot exchanges allow it to impose fresh conditions.
‘At this moment, confidence needs to be restored. Both NSEL and the government feel that by giving the role of supervising the settlement issue, there will be confidence about commitment,’ he said.

Asked if the FMC would regulate all spot exchanges, Agarwal said: ‘These powers will be given to FMC only for settlement of NSEL dues.’ The secretary also said commodity brokers such as Anandrathi Commodities, Systematix Shares and Stocks and the Commodity Participants Association of India have met him on the NSEL issue.

 Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya said at a press conference, ‘The NSEL vayda bazar scam is parallel to Harshad Mehta’s forged receipt scam of 1992-93. Thousands of crores of rupees have been siphoned off from the system of NSEL, which belonged to small investors and farmers. This money was transferred to some foreign countries.'
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