Axis Securities Limited (ASL) – one of the leading stock broking houses and a subsidiary of Axis Bank, today announced the launch of trading in NCDEX commodity derivatives for its customers under its flagship brand ‘AxisDirect’ (www.axisdirect.in). With this launch, Axis Securities becomes the first bank-led brokerage firm to introduce commodity derivatives on the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX), a leading commodities exchange dealing primarily in agricultural commodities in India.
After Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) permitted bank subsidiaries to provide broking services in commodities derivatives, ASL became the first ever bank sponsored broking entity to take membership of a commodity exchange. With this launch, AxisDirect has expanded its overall investment product bouquet that currently includes Equities, Mutual Funds, SIPs, IPOs, Derivatives, Bonds, NCDs, ETFs, Company Fixed Deposits and Overseas Trading.
At the launch, Arun Thukral, MD & CEO, Axis Securities, said, “In an agriculturally dominated economy like India, a powerful commodity market can bring about stability in pricing. We are delighted to play a key role in this market as the first bank-led brokerage offering commodity derivatives trading on NCDEX. With our infrastructure, robust risk management systems and reach, we are certain to bring new clients on this platform. We also intend to run investor awareness campaigns across all major agri hubs in the coming months to build awareness about hedging products at a grass root level.”
Commenting on the launch,Vijay Kumar, MD & CEO, NCDEX said “As we welcome Axis Securities onto our platform we open the segment to a whole new set of clients, giving them an opportunity to diversify their portfolio. This is an affirmation and recognition of our efforts to offer the best hedging tools to value chain on the Exchange platform and goes to show that our sustained efforts have started bearing fruits. We are happy to contribute in our own way by providing the additional risk mitigating channel. The combined distribution set up of Axis Securities and Axis Bank will enable us to increase our reach. To add to this, Axis Securities would serve as an effective link in providing a hedging platform to bank clients who have availed loans against agri commodities. Hence the synergy between the bank and broking arm will not only strengthen the commodity ecosystem but will extend its benefits to all the participants.”
