To: Ted David who wrote (8015 ) 6/19/2001 11:25:31 PM From: long-gone Respond to of 17683 Ted, You need to ask your commodities experts about this one: Indian Express MRPTC forces BBA to suspend daily bullion quotes Sharad Mistry Mumbai, June 18: THE Bombay Bullion Association (BBA), has for the first time in its 80-year history, decided to stop releasing the daily bullion rates from Monday. Set up in 1921, the BBA has been arriving and releasing daily rates that were which were considered as the only Indina benchmark in the global bullion market. However, BBA will continue to provide the rates to its members in private so as not to hamper the daily business. This follows a showcause notice received from the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practice (MRTPC) commission asking the members of the squabbling BBA to explain the modalities of arriving at and publishing the daily bullion rates for the public through the agencies. In short, the order alleges that the BBA is involved in price rigging and price manipulation while arriving at the daily rates that are released for the world. At a time when the country’s bullion trade is expected to establish a strong cash market to be followed by an equally healthy futures market, this step of the BBA is said to be retrograde in nature. These rates were used not just the bullion trading community but even the Reserve Bank of India, the customs department, the income tax department as also the public sector undertakings, the corporates and the bullion banks were relying only on the BBA rates for their respective calculations. “We’ve stopped releasing the rates because we did not want to go against the authorities”, said BBA president Mukul Sonawalla. “However, in order to get the order revoked we’ll challenge the MRTP order in the Supreme Court”. According to Sonawalla, the BBA has already furnished the modalities of arriving at the daily rates before, releasing it to the world. “It’s been a practice from the inception of the BBA and no one was dissatisfied, till recently. And despite our communicating the modalities, the MRTPC in its own judgement feels there is price rigging and manipulation”. One of the former BBA members, Dinesh S Parikh, is said to have complained to the MRTP of the alleged price manipulation at the BBA. “This is a sad decision by BBA”, said Bhargava Vaidya, a leading bullion analyst. “Drawbacks or faults, if any, in the method to arrive at the daily bullion rates could have been improved, but definitely not stopped”. The stoppage of BBA’s daily bullion rates, till they are resumed, after a revocation order from the Supreme Court, will completely hamper all bullion price benchmarking activities at the customs, the RBI and other agencies. According to Sonawalla, the old committee at the BBA had in mid-1999 had decided to stop giving the rates. indian-express.com