The term of the committee that the Manmohan Singh government has set up to study the impact of futures trading in agricultural commodities on price rise is being extended.

Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen heads the committee. It was set up in March to look into the impact of futures trading on prices of essential commodities, and thereby on inflation.

Though the committee was supposed to submit its report in two months - that is in May, officials said it has asked for an extension.

Officials in the Forward Markets Commission, the apex commodities regulator said that the Abhijit Sen committee has asked for an extension of two months.

"The committee's term is being extended. A notification to this effect will come from the Finance Ministry soon," the official pointed.

The government was forced to set up the committee in March after political parties accused futures trading in commodities as the main cause for the price rise in essential items, and the soaring inflation thereby.
 
Under pressure from politicians, the government has already banned futures trading in tur, urad, wheat and rice. Although a number of trade bodies, farmers associations and a section of political parties are pressurizing the government to ban forward trading in commodities, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is said to be against the demand.

The prime minister, an economist by himself, is said to have told Planning Commission members recently that the futures trade in commodities is essential for a vibrant market.

But so far, political opposition to forward trade, which has been accused of fuelling prices of essential commodities, has hindered its growth prospects.