Mr Joseph Massey deputy MD of Multi Commodity Exchange of India said that it will launch coal and electricity futures contracts in 2008. He added that "We are in the final leg of launching the coal futures contract. We should be able to launch it in the early part of 2008."

Mr Massey said that the exchange, which is awaiting regulatory approval for carbon credit and sulphur futures, will increase focus on energy and also introduce environment products this year. He added that MCX already has a partnership with Chicago Climate Exchange, which is run by Britain's Climate Exchange Plc, and trades in carbon derivatives. MCX is also looking to launch new products and has designed weather and freight indices, among others, to boost growth.

Mr Massey said that "Our growth has been nearly 100% earlier and we see similar high growth to continue in 2008. Price volatility and participation of large participants will trigger growth in 2008." He added that the growth rate could surge if financial participants like mutual funds and banks are allowed to participate in commodities trading.

MCX has also received government approval for electricity futures, which it plans to launch this year, after spot electricity contracts on the Indian Energy Exchange become functional.

Both IEX and MCX are promoted by Financial Technologies India Limited. Citigroup and Merrill Lynch bought 5% stake each in MCX in September 2007, valuing it over USD 1.1 billion. MCX accounts for around 75% of the total trade turnover of all 24 commodity exchanges in India, driven mainly by energy and metals.