NCDEX Brings ‘Har Ghar Investor’ to Kochi, Launches Black Pepper Futures
NCDEX today brought its flagship market participation initiative, ‘Har Ghar Investor’, to Kochi, the second chapter of a nationwide campaign anchored to the exchange’s ‘Equity for Bharat’ vision. The initiative is designed to expand access to regulated financial markets beyond India’s metropolitan centres, reaching households and enterprises in cities, towns and hinterlands that have historically remained at the periphery of formal investing.
At the same event, NCDEX announced the relaunch of Black Pepper Futures contract that had previously served as the domestic and global pricing benchmark for the commodity. Given Kochi’s standing as one of India’s foremost spice trading and processing centres, the relaunch is well-timed: with no active derivatives contract for black pepper available anywhere in the world today, NCDEX’s contract is positioned to restore a critical and long-missing price discovery and risk management mechanism for producers, traders, processors and exporters across the pepper value chain.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Arun Raste, MD & CEO, NCDEX, said “India’s growth story will be complete only when wealth creation and risk management are accessible to every household and every enterprise — not just those in the largest cities. Through ‘Har Ghar Investor’, we want to build a culture of informed investing across Bharat, anchored in transparency and regulation. Kochi, with its rich trading heritage and entrepreneurial energy, is a natural setting for this journey. And the relaunch of Black Pepper Futures is an ideal moment to demonstrate Kerala’s unique potential to bridge agriculture and investing.”
Tojo Banerjee, Chief of Equity, NCDEX further opined, “For decades NCDEX has stood for transparency, fair price discovery and accessibility in commodity markets. We are carrying those same values into equities space. The mutual fund platform is our first step and we have designed it to be simple, accessible and intuitive as we aim to bring first time investors from across Bharat into regulated markets with confidence.”
Adding to it, Kedar Deshpande, Chief Business Officer, NCDEX said, “Pepper is among India’s most historically significant traded commodities, and Kochi has long anchored its price discovery. With no active global derivatives benchmark currently available for black pepper, the relaunch fills a genuine and long-standing gap. It gives the entire spice ecosystem, from growers to exporters, a transparent, regulated platform for pricing and risk management, while reinforcing India’s position in global spice trade. It is also an important milestone in our strategy to deepen our presence in southern India and build a wider basket of commodities that are closely linked to regional value chains.“
Launched in Guwahati in June 2026, Har Ghar Investor arrives in Kochi as its second chapter. Kochi is a natural home for both announcements. Its deep financial literacy, entrepreneurial culture, centuries-old trading heritage and digitally enabled financial ecosystem makes it an ideal gateway for the next generation of investors entering regulated markets. As a city that bridges agriculture and capital markets, it embodies precisely the opportunity that ‘Equity for Bharat’ is envisioned to unlock.
NCDEX is steadily evolving into a diversified, multi-asset market infrastructure institution. With SEBI’s in-principle approval to enter the equity and equity derivatives segments and following a successful fund raise of ₹770 crore, the exchange is preparing to launch its first offering in the cash segment through a Mutual Fund Platform. The exchange has also been at the forefront of financial innovation with RAINMUMBAI, the world’s first exchange-traded rainfall futures contract, developed in collaboration with IMD and IIT Bombay and approved by SEBI. Recognised widely as a transformative risk management tool, RAINMUMBAI extends the exchange’s mandate to sectors and communities impacted by rainfall volatility.
