new delhi the reserve bank of india has sought checks on currency trading arguing it was resulting in speculation the demand which has not found favour with market regulator sebi was made during a meeting of the financial stability and development council fsdc recently and came at a time when the rupee is touching new lows against the dollar and putting pressure on the overall economy but sources told toi that sebi has managed to get a reprieve for the currency futures market where trading began in 2008 after a reluctant rbi agreed to the plan after years of debate futures are aimed at helping traders hedge their currency bets one of the major reasons for rbis opposition was joint regulation with sebi fsdc is a regulatory coordination body comprising the regulators and is headed by the finance ministers rbi is learnt to have raised the issue during a meeting of the subcommittee which is chaired by the central bank governor in recent weeks rbi has sought to clamp down on activities that could impact currency fluctuations and the proposal is also in that direction the rupee has depreciated over 20 over the past 12 months and closed at 5680 against the dollar compared to wednesdays close of 5716 sebi has taken the plea that in the absence of a regulated segment such as currency futures traders would be forced to hedge their risks in unregulated markets such as the nondeliverable forwards market in singapore where volumes are of the order of 20 billion compared to 4 billion for currency futures the overthecounter market regulated by the central bank where business worth around 15 billion is transacted it is already a mater of worry that the largest market is not regulated by indian regulators by putting in restrictions on currency futures you will only drive out business from the country said a source sources also pointed to action taken by sebi against united stock exchange to argue that the market was well regulated market players said that instead of banning currency futures the regulators could look to club position limits and use other tools to check speculative behaviour for instance like the forward markets commission they can seek higher margins from buyer along with the stipulation that cash payments be made sebi has also stepped up the vigil sources said and has sought detailed data from exchanges so that it can crack down on errant behaviour