Securities market

Investors are divided into two categories based on the size of their
investment and sophistication of their investing strategies retail
investors and institutional investors.
1- Retail investors- Retail investors are individual investors who invest

money on their personal account.

2- Institutional investors- Institutional investors are organizations that
invest large volumes and have specialized knowledge and skills in
investing. Institutional investors are companies, banks, government
organisations, mutual funds, insurance companies, pension trusts
and funds, associations, endowments, societies and such
organisations that may have surplus funds to invest.
There are several major players in the primary market. These include the
merchant
bankers, mutual funds, financial institutions, foreign institutional investors
(FIIs),
individual investors; the issuers including companies, bodies corporate;
bankers to the
issue, brokers, and depository participants. The stock exchanges are
involved to the extent
of listing of the securities. In the secondary market, there are the stock
exchanges, stock
brokers (who are members of the stock exchanges), the mutual funds /
asset management
companies (AMCs), financial institutions, foreign institutional investors
(FIIs), investment
companies, individual investors, depository participants and banks. The
Registrars and Transfer Agents, Custodians and Depositories are capital
market intermediaries, which
provide important infrastructure services to both the primary and
secondary markets.

Commodity
There are three national commodity exchanges for trading in commodity
futures. They are
the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited, the National Commodity
and Derivative
Exchange Limited and the National Multi Commodity Exchange of India
Limited. These
exchanges follow established practices in trading, clearing and settlement
and processes

and structure. Apart from these, there are commodity trading associations
registered with
the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) which can trade in commodities
contracts
approved by the FMC.