Amid the ongoing payment crisis in the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL), the the Finance Ministry is taking over regulation of commodity futures markets from the Consumers Affairs Ministry.

A notification to bring commodity markets regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) under the ambit of the Finance Ministry was issued by the government on September 6.

The Consumer Affairs Ministry had earlier agreed to shifting FMC to the Finance Ministry as it did not have the adequate manpower and expertise to regulate the complex commodity futures markets.

The Consumer Affairs Ministry had been overseeing the functioning of the FMC, which regulates futures trading on 21 commodity bourses, including MCX and NCDEX.

The Finance Ministry oversees operations of several regulators, including Sebi, Irda and PFRDA. Bringing FMC under the purview of the Finance Ministry will ensure better co-ordination of regulators.

The proposal to bring FMC under the purview of Finance Ministry was moved last month after a payment crisis of Rs 5,600 crore surfaced in the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL).

NSEL had to shut down its operation early August, following the government direction in the wake of violation of certain rules.