India, May 30 -- Speculating on rain was popular among citizens of Mumbai in the 1880s. While the practice, akin to betting, was discontinued by then British government in 1887 through an act, it has now been officially revived in another avatar - on Friday, the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) launched Mumbai Rainfall Futures Contracts, also called Rainmumbai, India's first exchange-traded rainfall derivatives contracts which opened for trading to retail and high-net-worth investors, power utilities, logistics firms and agri-processing businesses, among others.

Amid predictions of below-average rain this year, due to the El Nino pattern, on the first day NCDEX received trading volume worth Rs.30 crore till 5pm, with NCD...