PRICE VOLATILITY OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS IN FUTURES TRADING IN INDIA ? A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Agriculture is the backbone of India with a sizeable population depend on it for employment and livelihood. Therefore, the effective functioning of markets of agricultural produce is important for cultivators, other producers, policy makers, etc. The marke ts are expected to realize a fair price for farmers, traders, which are often a serious issue due to seasonality, lack of storage facilities, yield differences across different geographical regions in our country. The abundance during harvest season, wit h damped price and differences in yield and quality, frequent government interference with administered prices on select commodities is resulting in a complex marketing environment for agricultural produce. This environment throws the farmers and traders t o price uncertainty at every harvest season. Against this background, an attempt is made in this paper to provide a description on Indian commodities markets with a brief profile of agriculture commodities selected for detailed study is presented. Further , it also analysed the price volatility during the period of study. Finally, it came with suggestions for the providing a fair price for the agricultural products to the cultivators by way of regulating these futures markets.