The Dushhera has marked a new beginning for nearly 500,000 goldsmiths as the futures trading on the precious metal was introduced last week in the country after a 41-year ban.

The futures trading provides the goldsmiths an opportunity to win over the volatility in the international prices.

The Ahmedabad-based National Multi Commodity Exchange kicked off gold futures last week while two bourses -- National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange and Multi Commodity Exchange of India -- were giving finishing touches to their trading platforms.

The futures trading provided the goldsmiths, so far have been importing gold to meet demand, an opportunity to win over the volatility in the international prices.

The absence of futures trading forced, till last week, the Indian goldsmiths to bring in at least 60 per cent of their demand.

In addition, there was no formal demand-supply estimates, except the one provided by the World Gold Council. India consumes nearly 800 tonnes of gold a year.

Banks were allowed to hedge gold import risks in foreign exchanges while major bullion players managed to hedge their risks through shell companies incorporated outside India. The individual goldsmiths were the only unfortunate lot to avail the facility.

With the availability of domestic platform, the individual goldsmiths might well take advantage of the arbitrage opportunity in the long run as the futures contracts gain substantial depth and volume.

Gold imports were considered to have dipped marginally with the recent fluctuations in the gold prices in the international markets forcing households to recycle the usage of the metal.

The gold prices at the London market went up sharply from about $ 360 per ounce to $372 over the past two months, resulting in lowering of imports.

Although the gold futures trading was expected to take some time to provide the desired liquidity and depth, India has geared up to join the ranks of New York Commodity Exchange, a division of NewYork Mercantile Exchange, Tokyo Commodity Exchange and Shanghai Gold Exchange.

Experts said the aberrations between the domestic and the international prices would be minimal owing to the introduction of the gold futures.

In addition, India, being the largest consumer of the precious metal, could influence the global markets once the futures trading matured.

They added the beginning of gold futures was small but pregnant with possibilities to establish the country as a major force in the global markets.