India: Ban On Rice Futures Likely To Be Relaxed

India's Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has requested the government to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in commodity exchanges saying that the time was ripe for scrapping the ban on futures trading in wheat and rice.

His statements come at a time when the committee headed by Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen is about to submit a report on aspects of commodity futures trading to the food and consumer affairs ministry within the next fortnight.