The Income Tax Department on Tuesday conducted a search on the Multi-Commodity Exchange, a leading commodity exchange in the country. Though an official I-T statement did not name MCX, the exchange said searches were conducted on its premises.“The I-T Department is today conducting searches on a commodity exchange and its associates in Mumbai. Surveys are also being conducted on the exchange branches in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata,” the statement said. “There is no raid on any share broker connected with a stock exchange,” the statement added.“I-T officials conducted certain investigations at MCX. The exchange has complied with all rules and regulations and all laws of the land,” an MCX official told The Indian Express.The action by I-T officials came days after the Financial Technologies-promoted MCX sought details from its members about their Mumbai-based clients whose trade on the exchanges exceeded more than Rs 1 lakh in the January-March quarter.Although the exchange termed the circular as a ‘routine’ affair, sources said it was based on the I-T Department directive. The notification said: “All the members shall submit the details of their clients (a) who executed transactions of value exceeding Rs 1 lakh and (b) who are located in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.”MCX members felt that exchange should not provide the details to any other authority except the market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) unless income tax authority asks details of any particular transaction or a trader. “Only FMC has the power to know the details about the transactions, which are anyway known to the commodity exchanges,” an MCX member said.FMC chairman B C Khatua said other authorities (apart from FMC) can ask for specific information related to a transaction or a trader.
