But the exchange would be formally inaugurated only after some time, he said, since the food and civil supplies minister Surjit Singh Barnala is unavailable for the inauguration ceremony right now. Mock trading has already begun on the exchange from October 14 and so far has proved satisfactory, Mookherjee said.

A heartening feature of revival of the exchange was that more and more young members were taking part in trading, he said. The cotton exchange was expected to commence trading by Diwali but these plans had to be put off due to procedural delays, including obtaining clearance from the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) for trading norms.

When the East India Cotton Exchange (EICA), the prime forcebehind cotton futures revival, initially submitted the trading norms proposal, FMC returned it with some changes. EICA had then called an emergency meeting of its members last month to bring about the necessary changes in trading norms.

FMC's clearance finally came during the last week of September. As per the trading norms, staple length and micronre of cotton would determine trade and not varieties.

Apart from the cotton exchange, domestic futures for soyabean, soya oil and soyacake besides international futures for castor oil are also scheduled to commence within a year.