India's NCDEX eyes 20% stake in Sri Lanka's first commodity exchange

India’s leading agriculture commodity exchange, the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), has decided to acquire around a 20 per cent stake in a new commodities and financial derivatives exchange being set up in Sri Lanka, subject to regulatory and governmental approvals. The move aims to deepen NCDEX’s footprint in the financial ecosystem of its neighbouring country. The new exchange, being promoted in Sri Lanka by the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), will be called CSEDEX and focus on commodity and financial derivatives. Currently, Sri Lanka does not have any exchange for either commodity or financial derivatives. Sources said that if approved, this could be one of the rare instances of an Indian commodity exchange directly acquiring a stake in an overseas exchange, though there have been previous collaborations and partnerships between Indian bourses and foreign exchanges. “Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU)