Information Spillover in Indian Agricultural Commodities Market

Abstract

Role of agricultural sector in Indian economy is prominent, as being an agrarian economy and having the second highest population in the world. Thus, the efficiency of this sector is the foremost factor for development and growth of the economy. This article attempts to examine the price discovery relationship of future and spot prices of five agricultural commodities, namely cardamom, crude palm oil, cotton, mentha oil and kapas, during the period 2011–2019. Johansen’s co-integration test, vector error correction model (VECM) and Granger causality block exogeneity test were employed for the study. We found that price discovery process is established for agricultural commodities under consideration. Future prices act as a leader in achieving long-run equilibrium for all commodities except cardamom. Causality was significantly reported for all commodities, as bidirectional causality runs between the prices. The study suggests that Forward Market Commission should be empowered more to control and regulate the market, which will ensure the efficient market situations in these commodities’ market. Attempt was made to evaluate price discovery process in agricultural commodities market during post sub-prime crisis period, which was ignored by majority of researchers.