Of froth and fundamentals

摘要

Climb a steep flight of stairs down a small side street in Fatehpuri, part of the bustling commercial hub of Old Delhi, and you will come to a set of rooms overlooking an imposing internal courtyard. In one of them, half a dozen men lounge on mats beneath a poster of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth. Next to them is a clutch of telephone sets, each on a long wire cord. Outside hangs a blackboard with prices scrawled in chalk. This is the trading floor of the Rajdhani Oils and Oilseeds Exchange, where futures contracts for soyabean oil, mustard seed and jaggery (sugar) are bought and sold.