What is “Commodity” and “Commodity Exchange”? Any product that can be used for commerce or an article of commerce which is traded on an authorized commodity exchange is known as commodity. The article should be movable of value, something which is bought or sold and which is produced or used as the subject or barter or sale. In short commodity includes all kinds of goods. Indian Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 1952 defines “goods” as “every kind of movable property other than actionable claims, money and securities”. A commodity exchange is an association or a company or any other body corporate organizing futures trading in commodities for which license has been granted by regulating authority. In current situation, all goods and products of agricultural (including plantation), mineral and fossil origin are allowed for commodity trading recognized under the FCRA. The national commodity exchanges, recognized by the Central Government, permits commodities Continue reading
Investment Options
Mutual Fund Performance Benchmarks
Benchmarks are independent portfolios and a representation of behavior of returns from the market. Benchmarks are not managed by fund managers. In simple words, a standard for evaluating the performance of mutual fund investments. To better understand the concept of benchmark it is very important to know the job of a mutual fund. For example, the S&P CNX Nifty is a portfolio of 50 securities traded on the National Stock Exchange. The BSE Sensitive index is a portfolio of 30 securities traded on Bombay Stock Exchange. The movement of these indices represents the movement in prices and returns on the stock traded in the equity market. Suppose an investor invests in an index fund -he will compare the return from index fund with the return from the equity market. If the fund manager is managing an equity portfolio, which invests only in equity but is not an index fund, investors Continue reading
All About Call Money Market in India
The call money market refers to the market for extremely short period loans; say one day to fourteen days. These loans are repayable on demand at the option of either the lender or the borrower. The money that is lent for one day in this market is known as “Call Money”, and if it exceeds one day (but less than 15 days) it is referred to as “Notice Money”. Term Money refers to Money lent for 15 days or more in the Inter Bank Market. These loans are given to brokers and dealers in stock exchange. Similarly, banks with ‘surplus’ lend to other banks with ‘deficit funds’ in the call money market. Thus, it provides an equilibrating mechanism for evening out short term surpluses and deficits. Moreover, commercial banks can quickly borrow from the call market to meet their statutory liquidity requirements. They can also maximize their profits easily by Continue reading
Types of Mutual Fund Schemes: By Structure
1. Open-ended schemes Open-ended or open mutual funds are much more common than closed-ended funds and meet the true definition of a mutual fund — a financial intermediary that allows a group of investors to pool their money together to meet an investment objective— to make money! An individual or team of professional money managers manage the pooled assets and choose investments, which create the fund’s portfolio. They are established by a fund sponsor, usually a mutual fund company, and valued by the fund company or an outside agent. This means that the fund’s portfolio is valued at “fair market” value, which is the closing market value for listed public securities. An open-ended fund can be freely sold and repurchased by investors. Buying and Selling: Open funds sell and redeem shares at any time directly to shareholders. To make an investment, you purchase a number of shares through a representative, Continue reading
Catastrophe Bonds or CAT Bonds
Catastrophe Bonds (or CAT Bonds) are high-yield, risk-linked securities used to transfer explicitly to the capital markets major catastrophe exposures such as low probability disastrous losses due to hurricanes and earthquakes. It has a special condition that states that if the issuer (Insurance or Reinsurance Company) suffers a particular predefined catastrophe loss, then payment of interest and/or repayment of principal is either deferred or completely waived. These bonds were first introduced as a solution to problems resulting from traditional insurance market capacity constraints, excessive insurance premia, and insolvency risk due to catastrophic losses. Catastrophe Bonds or CAT Bonds are complex financial tools which transfer peril specific risks to the capital markets instead of an insurance company. The peril risk is transferred through a complex system of events which include creation of a special purpose vehicle by a sponsor, modeling event scenarios by qualified risk management firms, drafting of a bond Continue reading
Dematerialization and Rematerialization in Commodity Markets
The Indian commodity futures market has grown exponentially in the recent times. With the increase in trade volume at the Commodity Exchanges; the need to have a vibrant and efficient settlement system was felt. This led to the concept of dematerialization of warehouse receipts. Demat of warehouse receipt eliminates the difficulties arising out of the use of physical warehouse receipts. Dematerialization refers to the process of conversion of the physical paper (i.e. share certificates, warehouse receipts, etc.) into the electronic balances. In this process the physical paper is destroyed and electronic balance is credited in the demat account owner of the physical document. The concept of demat has been in vogue in the securities market from the year 1996 with the setting up of the first depository i.e. National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) to remove the difficulties arising out of the use of physical (paper) certificates for settlement of trades Continue reading