20 thousand bets were placed on Mumbai’s rain
This year the monsoon in Mumbai made everyone wait for a long time. Hide and seek of clouds was going on in the sky, but meanwhile a new history was being created in the world of commodity market. We are talking about ‘RAINMUMBAI’, which is India’s first weather based derivative contract. Only a month has passed since its launch on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), but it has already crossed the huge turnover mark of around 20,000 lots in its very first month. After all, what is this weather market, how are deals done in it, how will it have a direct impact on common life or businessmen? Let us understand.
How dry June changed the game of trading
The beginning of the month of June in Mumbai was the driest in recent years. Due to this delay in monsoon, concerns regarding the availability of water in the city had increased. The rains picked up some pace towards the end of the month. This uncertainty of weather gave this new financial product a great opportunity to prove itself. The RainMumbai contract does not measure total rainfall in the city. Instead, it looks at how much rainfall has deviated or fluctuated from the long-term historical average (LPA). According to exchange data, an average of 1,000 lots were traded every day in the first month. The maximum movement was seen in the market on June 15, when a turnover of 2,039 lots was recorded in just one day.
Not betting, but a trick to avoid loss
At first glance it may seem like a bet on rain, but in reality it is a very strong tool to avoid financial risk. There are many businesses which suffer losses worth crores due to bad weather. Till now such businessmen either depended on traditional insurance or silently tolerated the loss considering it a part of the business. This contract, launched at the end of May 2026, has shown a new path. It is completely based on cash settlement. In this, accurate data from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is used. This facility is available for trading exclusively for the four main months of monsoon, June, July, August and September.
