National Spot Exchange, India's biggest bourse for trading physical gold, has launched contracts in small denominations, aimed at households in the world's largest consumer of the precious metal.
The exchange offered contracts in sizes from 8 gm to 1 kg starting yesterday, Anjani Sinha, managing director, said. Presently, the bourse only trades imported gold bars in sizes of 100 gm and 1 kg, he said.
The Multi-Commodity Exchange of India Ltd and the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd, India's biggest commodity bourses, only trades gold futures. That forces individuals to buy or sell bullion through jewellers and banks in the physical form. Households in India, where women are the biggest users of gold, have 25,000 tonnes locked away in family vaults, according to the National Spot Exchange.
"Our main aim is to tap the huge household stock," said Sinha. "There's no transparent, electronic market with a nationwide reach for spot gold in India," he added.
